"A sinister little pamphlet"

"Days from a Different World" is the BBC world affairs editor John Simpson's memoir of his early childhood in post-war Britain. Simpson takes one day from each year between 1943 and 1951 and interweaves his own recollections with family events and stories from the newspapers of that day.

Wednesday 12th February 1947: it was the coldest winter since 1867. Johnny visits his grandmother in the snow. And the Board of Control publishes their report on leucotomy. Simpson writes:

"A sinister little pamphlet called "Pre-frontal Leucotomy in 1000 Cases" was published that day by the Stationery Office at a price of sixpence. Based on the theory that "[s]omething must be done in some mental illnesses to break the connexion between the patient's thoughts and his emotions", it examined the results in a wide variety of patients. When successful, it said, cutting the physical links between one part of the brain and the rest had enabled a third of the people whose cases were recorded to resume their everyday activities "without that emotional tension and preoccupation with hallucinations and phantasies which has hitherto handicapped them". Another third had shown signs of improvement, though not to the point where they could be discharged from hospital. And the rest? No details were available, except that 3 per cent of them had died. It showed, said one medical writer, that the operation was well worth while in carefully selected cases. Today, pre-frontal leucotomy would be regarded by many surgeons and psychiatrists as a quite unnecessary form of torture."