Medicine: Losing Nerves

Few things in medicine seemed as new and fashionable as nerve-cutting operations. All over the U.S., surgeons were cutting nerves in various parts of the body in the hope of relieving ulcers, hand sweating, high blood pressure, hiccups, drug addiction, schizophrenia. One hospital last week was booked solid for the next nine months with appointments for lobotomies (cutting nerves in the brain). There were similar waiting lists elsewhere, and many doctors were getting nervous about the whole subject. They asked: Has the nerve-cutting fad already gone too far; will people who are now...

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