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An Historical Perspective (continued)
The letters between these people and the minutes indicate that, generally, the meetings were similar to those of any group with a common interest. The intent was to learn as much as possible from one another through the presentation of scientific papers and also by watching operations performed by the host. Perhaps not surprisingly, over half of the operations for intracranial tumor performed before the Society in the first five years were negative explorations.
1926 -- Meeting with Cairns
The first meetings, held biannually until 1932, included panel discussions on subjects such as the treatment of gliomas, surgery for tic douloureux, and diagnosis by ventriculography. Conspicuously absent were papers about the matters that now absorb program directors, for example, how to run a training program, the role of the neurosurgeon in medical education, and the impact of various socioeconomic threats.
1929
However, it would be a mistake to conclude that this group of surgeons was an unsophisticated, naive group who did not appreciate the many problems that afflicted not only medicine and but also society at all levels. Dr. Cushing was widely acquainted with such problems from his travels throughout the world; Dr. Frazier served as dean at the University of Pennsylvania for 10 years in addition to being the head of neurosurgery. Dr. Howard Naffziger was active in the American College of Surgeons, was later Regent of the University of California, and was involved in all areas of organized medicine. Loyal Davis, who came into the Society a little later, was president of the American College of Surgeons and for many years was the editor of Surgery, Gyneology, and Obstetrics in which many of the early neurosurgical papers were published, long before the founding of the Journal of Neurosurgery. In addition, many members of the Society were also members of the American Neurological Association, which is the oldest neurological society in the world. There they learned of the concerns of their neurological colleagues. Many members of the Society were members of the American Surgical Association, which had, and has to this day, great influence on the practice of surgery in the United States.
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