The idea that removing chunks of the brain to improve mental health was one that dates back to the 1890's. The lack of scientific proof of their benefits and procedures tempted many doctors to perform it, in most cases on convicts and mental patients, as they had no say in what happen to their bodies, with slight success.

The procedure itself was developed when a German doctor named Friederich Golz removed the two frontal lobes of his pet dog's brain and found the dog to be less aggressive and violent. Somehow, this doctor decided this procedure was safe because it worked on his dog, in a very un-scientific way.

After word of this new, fascinating procedure reached the Swedish doctor Gottlieb Burkhardt, he was eager to test it out. He was also the head of a mental institution, and tried a similar type of operation on six of...