Myrtle May Moore Canavan (b. 1879)

Sources are usually the Board of Health. These reveal (sometimes) odd facts. For example, Dr. Ernest Southard (who worked with the Gilbreths) died in a hotel in NYC in 1920. Death certificate revealed body was to go to the "New Jersey Crematorium" but it went to Boston so Dr. Myrtle Canavan could remove the brain--she removed Frank Gilbreth's brain also, in 1924.

Canavan's deteriorates the part of the brain that protects the nerves in the brain and spinal cord. This white matter helps transmit nerves throughout the body. The disease was first discovered by Dr. Myrtle Canavan in 1931.

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