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 WILLLIAM
JASON MIXTER
[extract
dated 1983] Dr. William Jason Miner was Chief of the Neurosurgical Service
at MGH from its formal inception in 1939 until his retirement in 1940, and again
during the war years, 1941-1946. Dr. Mixter grew up in Boston and on his family's
farm in the Berkshires. He graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
with an SB degree in Biology, and entered Harvard Medical School in 1902. After
completing the one-year internship then required at MGFI, he joined his father
and brother in private practice. In
1915, Dr. Mixter went to France as a civilian surgeon and cared for the casualties
of World I for two years before the United States joined the conflict. After a
brief trip back to Boston, he returned to France, this time in uniform with an
MGH unit. A year later he was transferred to England and was Commanding Officer
of Base Hospital 204 at Hursley Park during the great influenza epidemic that
broke out at the close of \Vorld War 1. During this period he proved his ability
as an administrator, dealing as he did with difficult war-time problems.
Although
he practiced general surgery until 1920. Dr. Mixter's interest in neurosurgery
can be traced back to 1911, when he and his father were as signed two beds at
MGH to try out the procedures being developed by Horsley and Cushing. Their success
greatly exceeded expectations, and Dr. Mixter was named Chief of Neurosurgery
in 1933. In
the ensuing years, he convinced the hospital trustees of the need for additional
beds, better operating room facilities, and a neurosurgical resident. In 1939
a separate Neurosurgical Service was established with him as Chief.
Dr. Mixter retired in 1940, but resumed leadership of the Neurosurgical Service
during World II, while his successor, Dr. James C. White, was on active duty in
the Navy. At this time, Dr. Mixter also held the post of Senior Consultant in
Neurosurgery to the Surgeon General of the Army. Dr.
Mixter was especially interested in the treatment of pain, the sympathetic nervous
system, and the spinal cord. His best known work, done in conjunction with Dr.
Joseph Barr of the Orthopedic Service, involved the problem of low backache with
sciatic radiation. A
prolific author, Dr. Mixter wrote articles on a wide range of medical topics.
In 1934 he and Dr. Barr coauthored the first paper defining the syndrome of intervertebral
disc protrusion. This paper is still considered a classic. In addition, he coauthored,
with Walter Dandy and Max Peet, sections on neurosurgery for Dean Lewis's Practice
of Surgery and coauthored, with Dr. George Cheever Shattuck, a Handbook of Health
for Overseas Service. Dr.
Mixter was elected to the American Surgical Association in 1920 and was one of
the original members of the Society of Neurological Surgeons. He belonged to many
other medical societies and was also a member of the Corporation of the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology and served as a trustee of the Massachusetts General Hospital. Over
the 20 stars of his neurosurgical practice, Dr. Mixter trained 28 young men in
the art and science of neurosurgery. Many went onto develop training programs
of their own, thus spreading the experience they gained working with Dr. Miner
in the early days of neurosurgery at MGH. | 
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