John Murray Carnochan

John Murray Carnochan (July 4, 1817 – October 28, 1887) was an American surgeon who performed the first successful neurosurgery for trigeminal neuralgia. Early life Carnochan was born in Savannah, Georgia, on July 4, 1817. He was taken to Scotland, his father's native land, in early boyhood and attended, but did not graduate, from the University of Edinburgh Medical School. Returning to New York in 1834, he entered as a student the office of Valentine Mott and took his degree of M.D. from the Columbia College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York. Career Devoting himself with ardor to the study of anatomy, he acquired special distinction in that field and gave lectures to private classes. In 1841, he again visited Europe, where he passed several years attending clinical lectures of the principal hospitals of Paris, London and Edinburgh. In 1847, he began practice in New York and in a short time his steadiness of nerve and boldness as an operator, gave him a high reputation as a surgeon. He later served during the war and for many years was professor of surgery of the New York Medical College. Although he was known for a dictatorial temper and consequently was on bad terms with his colleagues, he received liberal fees, wrote numerous technical monographs and died in fame. Soon after beginning the practice of surgery in New York City, Carnochan attained a high reputation on account of his success in operations never before attempted. In 1852 he severed and tied the femoral artery, effecting a cure in an exaggerated case of nutrition (elephantiasis arabrum). The same year he removed an entire lower jaw, with both condyles.