HISTORICAL VIGNETTE - CEREBRAL CORTICAL STIMULATION AND SURGERY FOR EPILEPSY

In 1909, in an isolated community hospital, on the northern tip of the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada, Dr, John Mason Little, Jr, performed electrical stimulation of the cerebral cortex, prior to cortical excision, as treatment of recurrent cerebral seizures in thr ee patients, Extracts from Dr, Little's written records of the clinica l features, the neurosurgical procedures and cerebral cortical stimula tion are summarised, A brief review of the contemporaneous history of neurosurgical procedures for epilepsy provides a prospective of Dr, Li ttle's remarkable surgical virtuosity.