Macewen, William (1848–1924)

British surgeon. He pioneered brain, lung, and orthopaedic surgery. He was the first to operate for brain abscess (1876), and successfully removed a tumour in 1878. He was also the first to remove a tubercular lung (1895). The patient was still alive in 1940. Macewen also introduced operations for mastoid disease.

He was born in Rothesay, Scotland. He was educated at Glasgow University, where he qualified in 1869. From 1892 until his death, Macewen was regius professor of surgery at Glasgow. He made important studies of bone growth and was a pioneer in bone surgery. He was a strong supporter of Lister's antiseptic method. He contributed many papers to medical journals, and his books include Osteotomy (1880), Pyogenic Infective Diseases of the Brain and Spinal Cord (1893), and The Growth of Bone (1912). He was knighted in 1902.