James Ewing Mears

James Ewing Mears (1838 to 1919), who also styled himself J. Ewing Mears, M.D., LL.D., was an American surgeon and author who worked mainly in Philadelphia teaching institutions. He is recorded as a pioneer of jaw and mouth surgery and was the first to propose Gasserian ganglionectomy, the removal of the trigeminal nerve ganglion, as a treatment for trigeminal neuralgia. He was also described as the first surgeon in the United States to carry out a subcutaneous osteotomy to relieve old dislocations, and the first to open the peritoneal cavity to drain pus. He taught as professor of anatomy and clinical surgery at the Pennsylvania College of Dental Surgery and as demonstrator of surgery at Jefferson Medical College. He was a charter member of the American Surgical Association and served as its president in 1894.