Francois Quesnay and the birth of brain surgery

The life and contributions to neurosurgery of Francois Quesnay, a French surgeon who was active during the mid-18th century, are presented. Quesnay, still famous as economist and as the founder of one of the earliest systems of economics, is largely forgotten as a surgeon, although he was the first to advocate cortical incision and exploration of the brain for abscesses and tumors.