Sir William Macewen (1848–1924) of Glasgow was the first practitioner of modern neurosurgery, but he didn’t devote the majority of his time and energy to this field. In 1888 he published his report on 21 operations with 18 recoveries, thus demonstrating the possibility of operating safely on the brain. In 1886, Victor Horsley (1857–1916) was appointed surgeon to the National Hospital for the Paralysed and Epileptic at Queen Square, London. This was the first neurosurgical appointment anywhere. In the first year of his appointment he performed 10 cranial operations. Horsley operated only by invitation. He had no beds of his own, no surgical service and no laboratories.

One of the most important figures in the early development of neurosurgery was Harvey Cushing …