Trephination of the living human skull in prehistoric times / [Thomas Wilson Parry].

  • Parry, T. Wilson (Thomas Wilson), 1866-1945.
Date:
[1923]
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Trephination of the living human skull in prehistoric times / [Thomas Wilson Parry]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    Experiments to Demonstrate Methods of Primitive Trephination. Ten years ago, in order to get a correct and practical under¬ standing of how primitive man (Neolithic and Modern) performed this operation, I began a series of some fifty experiments on both recent and dry human skulls with all the primitive implements that have been used for the purpose—namely, flint, obsidian, shark’s teeth, shell, glass, and even slate. The only material likely to have been used in north-western Europe was stone, and the kind of stone best suited for the purpose is flint. Flint is, as you are well aware, of sedimentary formation, and it possesses the power when force is brought to bear upon it in a certain way of being split into flakes. These flakes can be made, accord¬ ing to the skill of the knapper, with sharp points and edges, and make excellent knives, saws, scrapers, and borers, such as would be required in any primitive household. Neolithic man also constructed most exquisitely shaped arrow-heads, spear-lieads, and javelin-lieads, for defence of the home and offence in the hunting and fighting field. With these crude implements at his disposal Neolithic man, in different parts of the world, conducted this somewhat hazardous operation without anaesthetics, without antiseptics, and with dressings which would have shocked the suscepti¬ bilities of any member of the Listerian Society. And yet with all tlnse drawbacks he got, like the present-day quack, amazing successes. I make out there were four principal methods by which he performed this operation—namely: (1) by scraping the bone (Figs. 1 and 2); (2) by boring a circle of holes and sawing the intervening spaces (Figs. 3, 4, and 5); (3) by furrowing the bone by the push-plough method (Figs. 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, and (?) 11); (4) by sawing out a quadri¬ lateral button of bone (Figs. 12 and 13). 1. Scraping. Whether the scrapiug be done by flint flakes, sharp-edged pieces of obsidian, or pieces of strong sharp shell, such as are found on the shores of the South Pacific islands, the principle and method of procedure are precisely the same. For scraping a hole in bone, metal not being considered, there can be no better natural implement than a well flaked piece of flint. Where flint cannot be obtained, as in volcanic regions, obsidian makes a good substitute. Obsidian is a natural volcanic glass andean be flaked in the same way as flint by a sharp, well directed blow. The obsidian I used came from the Lipari Islands, north of Sicily. Contrasting these two substances I would give flint the first place. A hard, sharp edge can be obtained in flint, which is more resistant to counter-pressure than is obsidian. Obsidian, like glass, can give an even sharper edge than flint, but it is much more brittle and the operator stands in some danger as regards his eyes, from the sharp spicules that fly in every direction. I may recall that while flint is a siliceous sedimentary deposit, obsidian is of igneous formation; both flint and obsidian, when freshly flaked, are excellent substances for surgical purposes. Their newly fractured surfaces, which are smooth—and in this