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 [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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