Evening star., 1936-11-20

They can't see where the cuts are be-
ing made. In some Of the latest cases
they have injected thorium prepara-
ton which enables them to determine
the precise spots by X-ray pictures.
The story of this operation goes
back more than half a century to a
classic case, familiar to medical stu
dents, of an unfortunate quarry man
who had a 3foot crowbar blasted
right through his head from beneath
his jaw. Large parts of both right and
left pre-frontal lobes we're torn away.
The victim survived this terrible acci-
dent and eventually was able to return
to work.
Thus apparently was dealt a crush
ing blow to center of intelligence"
theory. The mans intelligence. it
seemed from the somewhat inadequate
tests of the day, had deteriorated only
slightly, He had, however. undergone
a profound change in personality. be-
coming childish. boastful and impos-
sible to get along with. For 10 years
neurologists have argued over the case
long after the quarry man himself
was dead
Functions Of Area.
Many investigators during the last
half century have contributed to
knowledge of the function of the
frontal lobes. New light came in the
last three years from experimental
removal of the pre-frontal lobes of
monkeys at Yale University and else
where When teased or frustrated a
monkeys normal behavior resembles
that Of spoiled child. BY system
of rewards and punishments efforts
were made TO teach the active, intel
ligent little animals to perform tasks
that proved to be a little above their
mental capacity. The result was that
they became morose and sulked or
chartered and shook the bars In their
cages. Their states resembled neuroses
as observed in human beings. Here
was a task too difficult to perform.
The alternative was punishment
Caught in such a trap, the monkeys,
like human beings. wouldn't move in
either direction. They may have been
on their way to something like monkey
insanity. Inhibitions from both direc-
tions we're crashing in their little
brains.
Their pre-frontal lobes were cut
away. They stopped sulking. The
punishment-or rather the memory
of it-seemed to have lost its sting
Once more they became active and
carefree.
Almost simultaneously came reports
of certain surgical operations on hu-
man brains. necessitated by frontal
lobe tumors. In one of these DR..
Walter E. Dandy, famous brain sur
geon of Johns Hopkins University
Hospital in Baltimore, removed a
large portion of both pre-frontal lobeS.
In the other. Drs. S. Spafford Ackerly
and Or. Glen Squirting of Louisville.
KY, removed a large tumor from the
left pre-frontal lobe of woman. and
in doing so had to remove almost the
entire right pre-frontal.
Report by Surgeons.
The Louisville surgeons reported
their operation to the American Psy-
chiatric Association meeting here a
year ago. Their patient. they said,
had passed from a condition of pro-
found melancholy, quarrelsomeness
and complaining to one of contented
happiness. had improved her power
of concentration to point where it
seemed an actual increase in intelli-
gence. and said that she felt physically
many years younger.
Her own statements had been con-
firmed by her husband and friends.
The report was so remarkable that
many Of the psychiatrists expressed
doubts about it.
About year ago all these things
came together in the mind of DR..
Moniz in Portugal and he had the
courage to put his ideas to the test
by partially blocking of the pre-
frontal lobes Of 40 patients. most Of
them suffering from severe and
chronic forms of mental disease All
his patients lived and many of the
operations, at least four months after
ward, were remarkable successes.
1t is his technique which Drs. Free
man and Watts have introduced and
are perfecting in Washington.
The surgeons themselves thus sum-
marize the operation and its results
to date
"In making this preliminary report