Sir Victor Horsley earned recognition as the father of neurosurgery because of his experiments in physiology, the study of living organisms. While a medical student at University College in London, Horsley served as clinical clerk to Henry Charlton Bastian and developed a lifelong interest in the nervous system. While still in medical school, Horsley assisted Bastian with the text The Brain as an Organ of the Mind, and he illustrated a lecture by neurologist Sir William Gowers on spinal nerves and their relationship to the vertebral column.

While a house surgeon at University College Hospital, Horsley was reported to have used himself as a research subject. After earning his medical degree with a gold medal in surgery, Horsley joined the medical service at University College Hospital and National Hospital, Queen Square. He was also appointed assistant professor of pathology at University College and became superintendent of the Brown...