FLINT KNIFE SURGERY.

Auckland Star, Volume XLVIII, Issue 36, 10 February 1917, Page 15

FLINT KNIFE SURGERY.

The 'Sew York "Medical Journal" Is responsible for the statement that Neolithic man, with no more refined a surgical instrument than a flint knife, performed the delicate operation of trephining. "Recent archaeological explorations In Peru," says the jonrnal, "have brought to light, among other Interesting remains, human skulls with as many as three large openings, circular, as if cut with, a modern trephine. They were made during, the life of the owner of the skull, for, in some cases at least, they show evidence that the •healing .process went forward" In the edges of the bone wound. "In Europe the remains of Neolithic man, dating back ax least 6000 years, enow that the contemporary eurgeon was exceedingly bold In exposing the brain. One of the skulls of this time has two large oval openings, one on either side, with eTidenee of .Nature's repair of the edges of the wound. Moreover, these openings were made not with a nicely adjusted steel centre pin trephine nor even with the help of a metal chisel, but with silvers of flint. "It was supposed at one time that the .holes in the skulls found in these ancient remains were punctured after death In order to set free the spirit ot the owner, .but the evidence of the inflammatory processes which, followed the operation have changed that Idea.