morbid | SUNT LA FEL CA TINE

foto formal de hyde

vintage neurosurgery

this chuncks of brains floating in formaldehyde
bring to life a dramatic chapter in medial history
the rise of a new profession
from a slipshod trial-and-error trade

in the the early days of brain surgery
when anesthesia was rudimentary
or not used at all
when antibiotics did not exist to fend off potential infections

doctors went into the brain and sometimes could not find the tumor
sometimes they talked to patients during surgery
the brain itself does not have pain receptors
some patients survived the procedure

some postoperative photographs
show patients with tumors bulging from their heads
when doctor cushing could not remove a tumor
he would remove a piece of the skull
so the tumor would grow outward
rather then compress the brain

it was not a cure
but it relieved the pacient of many symptoms