The Intellectual Functions of the Frontal Lobe: A Study Based upon Observation of a Man After Partial Bilateral Frontal Lobectomy.

Abstract

frontal lobe is, by common consent, the most dominant part of the brain. Yet in spite of its supreme position in the guidance of life, it is the least understood and perhaps also the least studied structure of the body. Thus writes Tilney, in his preface to Brickner's book, which is the history—the only one on record—of a man from whom a large portion of each frontal lobe had been removed because of an extensive meningioma and who survived for several years, leading a fairly well adjusted life. The patient, aged 40, a successful member of the New York Stock Exchange, with many friends and a satisfactory family life, began to suffer from headache, impaired memory and absent-mindedness. The symptoms grew worse for a year, at the end of which time he fell into a coma. He was then operated on by Dr. Walter Dandy at the Johns