Isaac Baker Brown

Isaac Baker Brown (1812 – 3 February 1873)[1] was a prominent[2][page needed] 19th-century English gynaecologist and obstetrical surgeon.

He had a reputation as a specialist in the diseases of women and advocated certain surgical procedures, including clitoridectomies, as cures for epilepsy and hysteria.

[3] His parents were farmer Isaac Baker Brown, and Catherine (née Boyer), the daughter of a schoolmaster.

[5] In 1866, Baker Brown described the use of clitoridectomy as a cure for several conditions, including epilepsy, catalepsy and mania, which he attributed to masturbation.

[7][8] In On the Curability of Certain Forms of Insanity, Epilepsy, Catalepsy, and Hysteria in Females, he gave a 70 per cent success rate using this treatment.