Northern Wisconsin advertiser. [volume] (Wabeno, Wis.) 1898-1925, 1904-05-26
NOTHING MUCH
NEW IN SURGERY
ANCIENTS IN THE HABIT OF PER.
FORMING TREPHINiNo.
INCAS OF PERU ADOPTS
Skulls That Show Their Skill Have
Been Frequently Found-Present.
Day Professionals Might Learn
Thing or Two From Them.

something like forty years ago per
formed the operation known as ire
phining it was heraldeG as something
new under the sun. Recent investiga-
tions, however, prove that !: was
nothing of the sort-that trephining is
certainly older than the Christian era
and probably dates much further back.
A vast mass of evidence has been &C.
cumuated in connection with the
question which collectively goes 10
show that in latter.day surgery, as in
pre-Christian Indiac philosophy, there
IL nothing new under the sun" The
great French anthropologist informed
bis readers that until quite recently
-trephining of a primitive kind was in
use among some Of the south sea
islanders for the treatment OF epilepsy,
insanity and even headache, and the
operation was done by scraping with
a piece of flint or broken glass when
the latter was to be had from
Europeans. In much the same way
and with similar instruments the OPP
Grafton was done In the neolithic or
polished stone period, the age follow
ing the socalled quaternary and pre-
ceding the bronze epoch. This period
corresponds with the burial in dol
mems. the use of agriculture and the
employment of domestic animals and
the making of hatchets of polished
mint, though rough-chipped instru-
ments were still in use"
OF Undoubted Antiquity.
The investigation of Broca and
Prunieres in this connection convinced
those observers that there had been a
practice of postmortem. as well as of
antemortem, trephining among those
primitive islanders II also appeared
that the antemortem (surgicaD opera.
lion had In nearly all their specimens
been performed during the first Jew
years of life; also that the postbumous
operation had been performed only on
those who had survived the former
one. In many of the skulls which bore
unmistakabie evidence of subsequent
development II was found that num-
Der of pieces OF bone had been clipped
OFF from the margins of the orifice.
Some of those pieces were actually
found. They had been shaped as anu.
lets or perforated for purposes of sus-
pension. Brocas explanation was
found by referring to the primitive
notion that all very pronounced head
sgmptoms--such as those of insanity,
melancholy. epilepsy and even violent
headache-were caused by demoniacal
possession; that, accordingly, an arti-
fetal cranial orifice was made to pro.
mote the exit of the evil spirit and
that for the remainder of life the indi.
vidual would be regarded as a sacred
personality, with the superadded dis.
tinction that his relics after death
would be greatly soug.t as charms"
and miraculous agents for the warding
of or the expulsion of evil spirits.
But the sitting and weighing of the
evidence was further complicated by
the fact that in all the eases of this
postmortem trephining noted by these
distinguished observers certain pro.
portion-usually about one-fourth--of
the circumference of the original open
ing had been left undisturbed. and
that the vacancies left by the removal
of the amulet material had been. in
each specimen, approximately filed
by similar pieces from some other
skull. In discussing this very cur
ious point Broca expands his hypothe.
sis by offering the fact as an indica.
tion--the earliest that he knew of-of
q belief in an existence after death
II proves, TO his mind. that those
primitive trephiners believed that the
individuality" was maintained after
the death of the body; in religious
Difference to which faith they would
not rob him lin the other life OF the
glorious evidence of the operation
which he had undergone in his youth. e"
So that II would actually appear that
the twentieth century Anglo-Saxon
problem of the survival of human
personality" had been attacked and
solved-to their own satisfactorily
those far-off, prehistoric savage island.
ers.
The first recorded specimen found
on this side of the Atlantic was taken
from the lucay cemetery, in the val.
ley of Yucay, Peru. American experts
pronounced the specimen to be OF tat
leaso pre-Columbian date The skull
was afterward forwarded TO Mr..
Broca
Peruvians Were Advanced.
The result of his examination was
that we are authorized 10 conclude
that there existed in Peru-before the
European epoch--an advanced form of
surgery" DR. Robert Fletcher in dis.
GUESSING this subject observes that
the numerous specimens which have
been found in Michigan suggest sew.
eral inquiries. Many more prehiStor.
ically trephined skulls have been
found in Michigan than III any other
state of the union" Illinois and Ohio