Literary notes about ablation (AI summary)
The term "ablation" is employed in literature to denote the act of removal or detachment, though its specific meaning shifts with context. In many texts, particularly within medical and scientific domains, it refers to the deliberate excision or destruction of tissue—ranging from the surgical removal of a part of the brain ([1], [2], [3]) or other bodily structures such as the tonsil or breast ([4], [5]) to procedures eliminating pathological growths ([6], [7]). Beyond clinical applications, the term is also used to describe natural processes like the gradual wearing away of a glacier's surface ([8], [9], [10]). Additionally, authors have adopted "ablation" in more abstract or metaphorical frameworks, as seen in its application to the removal of persistent cultural comparisons ([11]) or even as a form of punitive measure ([12]). This versatility highlights the breadth with which "ablation" conveys both physical removal and metaphorical reduction.
- Selective partial ablation of the frontal cortex: a correlative study of its effects on human psychotic subjects.
— from U.S. Copyright Renewals, 1977 July - December by Library of Congress. Copyright Office - [19] In dogs also Munk found absolute stone-blindness after ablation of the occipital lobes.
— from The Principles of Psychology, Volume 1 (of 2) by William James - That birds and mammals can be blinded by cortical ablation is undoubted; the only question is, must they be so?
— from The Principles of Psychology, Volume 1 (of 2) by William James - When this is impracticable, ablation of the tonsil may be necessary.
— from A System of Practical Medicine. By American Authors. Vol. 2 General Diseases (Continued) and Diseases of the Digestive System - The ablation of the breast began by an incision eleven inches long, followed by another nine inches long.
— from My Memoirs, Vol. III, 1826 to 1830 by Alexandre Dumas - After the ablation of the principal mass of the tumor, he destroyed the remaining part of it by application of the red-hot iron.
— from A History of Dentistry from the most Ancient Times until the end of the Eighteenth Century by Vincenzo Guerini - It was to be foreseen that the ablation of such a tumor would give rise to an abundant hemorrhage.
— from A History of Dentistry from the most Ancient Times until the end of the Eighteenth Century by Vincenzo Guerini - Each year there must be a very slow sinking of the surface, but the ablation is infinitesimal.
— from The Birth-Time of the World and Other Scientific Essays by John Joly - The middle of the glacier was almost as smooth as a carriage-road, cut here and there by musical brooks produced by the superficial ablation.
— from Hours of Exercise in the Alps by John Tyndall - Ablation may in such a case account for almost the whole of the snow removed.
— from The Andes of Southern PeruGeographical Reconnaissance along the Seventy-Third Meridian by Isaiah Bowman - The first step towards this assurance is the ablation of the chronic Shaksperian comparison.
— from Life of Robert Browning by William Sharp - [267] In practice this penalty of death appears to have been sometimes commuted to ablation of the sexual organs.
— from Studies in the Psychology of Sex, Volume 2 Sexual Inversion by Havelock Ellis
