Word: cloward
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Dates: during 1942-1942
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...death rate from brain wounds, which in World War I was lowered by Dr. Harvey Gushing from 60% to 28%, may be far lower in World War II. So predicted young Neurosurgeon Ralph Bingham Cloward, who saved the lives and wits of "a large number" of sailors and soldiers in Honolulu Dec. 7. Last fortnight, in the Journal of the American Medical Association, Dr. Cloward told how he treated brain injuries at Pearl Harbor, making use of surgeons' reports of similar injuries in British, German, French, Chinese battles...
Mystery of Consciousness. To Dr. Cloward's amazement, most of the men with head wounds-even those whose brains were oozing through their skulls-were "conscious, cooperative, rational and able to give their identifications." Yet others, who suffered heavy blows, were "deeply unconscious," died in a few minutes or hours...
According to latest theory, said Dr. Cloward, unconsciousness is caused by microscopic changes in the brain cells; these changes occur when the brain is rapidly jogged out of place, at a speed of at least 23 feet per second. A heavy blow moves the head, displaces the brain, causes injuries over its entire surface. Shell splinter wounds, said the doctor, did not cause unconsciousness because the fragments traveled at such terrific speed that "the head was struck, perforated and penetrated before the brain as a whole had time to be set into motion...
...Cloward used a small suction tube to remove bits of debris, then trimmed off all injured tissue with a knife. If the pieces of metal were close to the surface, they were removed; if small and deeply embedded, they were allowed to remain in the brain, for fear of increasing damage by operation. When the brain was clean, the wound was filled with sulfanilamide powder, and the brain envelope and scalp stitched tight...
Another probability not mentioned by Dr. Cloward was discussed thoroughly last month by Surgeons Walter Freeman and James Winston Watts of Washington, D.C. in a book on the frontal lobes (Psychosurgery; C. C. Thomas; $6). To enliven victims of deep depression and remove some of their inhibitions, Drs. Freeman and Watts cut through some fibers of the frontal lobes. They have returned a good proportion of their patients to their jobs. Like these patients wounded men who lose part of their frontal lobes (most civilized part of the brain, just behind the forehead) may lose self-restraint and manners, become...