1926

Harvey Cushing uses William Bowie’s electrochemical generator, which was able to regulate high-frequency, pulsing AC current so that heat applied to tissue at tip of scalpel could vary from coagulation to cutting. Cushing used the instrument to stem bleeding and remove brain tumor. Cushing was not the first to use the instrument, but his successful application in neurosurgery, when published, “proved decisive in advancing the use of the method” (Van de Laar, ch 28).