Harvey Cushing's Seventieth Birthday Party, April 8, 1939

To those who were fortunate enough to be present at the seventieth birthday party held for Dr. Cushing by the Harvey Cushing Society in New Haven, April 8, 1939, this little book will remain a precious and cherished memento; to those friends and former pupils of Dr. Cushing not there for that gay and happy occasion it will be an especially coveted treasure-a last visit with "the Chief"; and to those who knew Dr. Cushing not personally but only as a fine ideal, as a traditional guide and example for the young doctor, this book will offer, as none other does, an intimate and informal meeting with a great man at his best, and an understanding of the love and loyalty of his associates and patients. The delightful dinner program and speeches, the spoken and written tributes of associates, pupils, friends, and patients from all over the world, the three-day scientific program of the Harvey Cushing Society, many informal and amusing photographs of the party, an early photograph of Dr. Cushing, and a reproduction of a recent portrait done by Mr. Deane Keller, combine to pre-ordain this tidy volume to immortality among other books. One has but to see a few of the letters of greeting written by some of Dr. Cushing's former patients to know the love and confidence which he inspired in all who came under his counsel. From rich or poor, learned or unlearned, these letters express such a simple, genuine, and yet deeply sentimental appreciation that to read them is to feel a quickening of the pulse and a lump in one's throat. They are truly human documents. Some informal "notes" by Dr. Henry R. Viets on the "Formative Period of a Neurological Surgeon" make known heretofore untold facts concerning Dr. Cushing's early life as a medical student at Harvard, as a house officer in the Massa-chusetts General Hospital, and as a young physician. Several reproductions of some of Dr. Cushing's early history notes, anesthesia charts, and hand-drawn illustrations of cases under his care, help to reveal in this interesting chapter why Dr. Cushing's principles have made such a deep impression upon the medical world. But by all odds the high light of the book is the after-dinner address by Dr. Cushing. A little reminiscence, an extremely modest review of some chapters in his life, a merited appreciation of his faithful assistant, Dr. Louise Eisenhardt, a …