Evening star., 1946-04-19

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AS daring as he was skillful with
the scalpel, DR.. Dandy frequently
discarded tradition in his pioneering
into new operational procedures. In
1880 he said almost two-thirds of
mans brain might be cut away with
out damaging the intellectual powers.
To prove his point he removed
both frontal lobes of one patients
brain. The patient recovered COM
pletely.
DR.. Dandy was chief neurological
surgeon at, Johns Hopkins Hospital
and professor of neurological surg
cry at Johns Hopkins University. He
had been associated with the faculty
since 1910, the year he received his
M. D. degree.
Many Patients Prominent.
He operated on prominent pa
tients from all over the world. His
fame was SO great that In 1910, when
Leon Trotsky was dying in Mexico
City from an assassin's hammer
blows, DR.. Dandy was flown there in
a chartered plane in desperate ef-
fort to save the Russians life.
One Of the neuro-surgeon's chief
accomplishments was perfection of
an operation for a brain malady
known as Meniere's disease, which
had afflicted such historical flg-
ures as Martin Luther and Jona-
than Swift. BY cutting the audi
tory nerve in half, DR.. Dandy ef-
fected a permanent cure with vir-
tually no risk or after affects.
The amazing success of this op-
Grafton was spotlighted in 1910 when
DR.. Dandy reported 401 such cases
with 400 cures and one death.
Regarded by associates as the
greatest neuro-surgeon of his day
and one of the foremost pupils of
DR.. William Halsted, first professor
OF surgery at Johns Hopkins, DR..
Dandy was so years old on April s.
His associates had planned a testi-
monial dinner for him that day at
the Maryland Club, but it was post
poned because of his illness.
Learned to Locate Tumors.
Years ago DR.. Dandy introduced
centriculography, an operation by
which air is introduced into the
cranial cavity and, with X-ray aid,
a tumor located. At first the pro-
fession looked askance, but now the
method is regarded as one of the
greatest techniques Of brain surgery
and an outstanding contribution to
medical science.
DR.. Dandy discovered that a rup-
tured disc in the spinal column was
the cause of backache and pain
from the sciatic nerve, and success
fully operated for its relief. Another
constitution was development of an
operation for the relief of facial
neuralgia, free of dangers which
had marked that operation before.
Both in actual use of the knife and
in developing methods of operation,
DR.. Dandy was regarded as one of
the most remarkable men in Johns
Hopkins history. He was a contribu-
tor of numerous articles to surgical
and neurological journals.
Began Practice in Baltimore.
Said to have assimilated much of
the originality and courage that
marked DR.. Halsted, his noted teach
er, DR.. Dandy began his practice at
Baltimore.
He was known as brusque and
fortnight and strict disciplinarian
in the operating room. He did not
believe that X-ray and radium
treatment helped brain tumors and
did not hesitate to say so.
He put little stock in keeping his
patients in bed. II advise getting
them out of bed as soon as possible,
give them something to do and let
them get the feel of their feet on
the floor to show them there is
nothing wrong with them" he
once said.
Born in Sedalia, Mo-, he took his
A. B. and IL. D. degrees at the Uni
versity Of Missouri. He was a mem
Der of the American Surgical Asso-
citation, the American Neurological
Association, the Southern Surgical
Association, Phi Beta Kappa and
Sigma XII.
He is survived by a son, Walter E.
Dandy, jr., third-year student at
Hopkins Medical School, and three
daughters, Miss Mary Ellen. Welles-
ley College, and Misses Kathleen
Louise and Margaret, students at
Roland Park Country School, Balti-
more.