No more brilliant chapter in the advances of knowledge of therapeutics can be found than in the remarkable results obtained in surgical intervention in the nervous system. Less than three decades ago the removal of a tumor of the brain was looked on with dread, while now the mortality in certain types of cerebral lesions is less than 10 per cent. In recent years the sympathetic nervous system has received a great deal of attention, and while its surgical treatment has not yet been placed on a firm foundation, nevertheless, it promises to give excellent results.
Perhaps because of the necessity of the relief of pain, particularly in the face, operations on the fifth nerve have always aroused great interest. This is emphasized by the three papers on this subject which appear in this issue and which more or less summarize the brilliant results that have been obtained by section