NEW BRAINS FOR OLD.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXXIX, Issue 12772, 25 May 1912, Page 2 (Supplement)

NEW BRAINS FOR OLD.

DARING OPERATION BY AN

AMERICAN SURGEON,

A daring surgical operation for the purpose of removing the decayed parts of the human brain and replacing them with healthy tissue, has been undertaken at St. John's Hospital, Baltimore, says the New York correspondent of the Daily Telegraph. The patient was a wealthy landbroker, named William Buckner, who suffered from coma. Examinations under X rays showed that a portion of the brain was decayed, and that the frayed tissues were causing the healthy sections gradually to become affected.

•'Dr. Cushing, a specialist, decided to procure the brain of another patient as soon after death as possible, and 'transplant a 'portion of it to the skull of Mr Buckner.

'That day a child born m one of. the wards died. Dr. Gushing thereupon removed the. brain, and, m view of ;a score of professors and students, performed the second part of ' the operation. After administering an anaesthetic, he removed the back of ,Mr Buckner's skull, and took out the' entire brain, which was placed on a piece of linen beside the head, and could be seen to pulsate with each heart-beat of the patient. '•':,■

' The diseased portion was then very carefully severed from the minor brain, and while Dr. Cushing was severing the diseased section another surgeon was transplanting the infant's brain. .The maior brain was left untouched.

After the transplantation the entire brain was restored to its proper place, and the section of the skull which had been cut out was replaced. The operation took place several days ago, and though Mr Buckner's life is still m danger, he is reported as ' "improving. "