Some Preliminary Remarks on Prefrontal Leucotomy

The operation of prefrontal leucotomy first performed by Moniz (1) in 1936 in Lisbon will be by now more or less familiar to most psychiatrists, on paper if not in actual practice. At first sight the operation would appear to be a revolutionary proceeding; and so it is in some ways. It is, however, no more drastic than the convulsion or insulin treatments in which the patient is near enough the line which separates life and death.