Like a Hole in the Head

(Painting by Hieronymus Bosch)

Lest we think that modern societies are smarter than medieval ones, consider this:  The survival rate of Incan trepanations was about 20 to 40 percent higher than that of trepanations performed during the American Civil War.

The term “trepanation” sounds a lot like the word “trepidation” with good reason.  People need trepanations like they need a hole in the head, which is exactly the point.  Medically speaking, “trepanation” entails “scraping, cutting, or drilling an opening into the cranium.”

Perhaps the Incans knew a thing or two about sterilization.  Perhaps they at least knew not to stick their grimy fingers into a soldier’s open skull.  Civil War surgeons went ahead and did just that.  They would poke through head wounds, feeling “for clots and bone fragments.”  Victims would survive the initial gunshot, only to die soon afterwards from hideous infections.

The Incans did not chart medical progress, nor did they post articles about life’s every detail.  We therefore don’t know the secrets of their trepanation success; we just know that they were far more skillful than is often presumed.

Resources

https://phys.org/news/2018-06-holes.html

Copyright June 10, 2018 by Linda Van Slyke   All Rights Reserved