CURIOUS CASE of TREPANNING.

Patea Mail, 26 October 1881, Page 4

CURIOUS CASE of TREPANNING.

A large share of the attention of the world has of late years been attracted to Peru, its his,toryand that of its ancient inhabitants. An important relic pf this civilisation was discovered a few years ago in, the shape of a trepanned skull. It was found in an ancient burying place of the Incas, the original inhabitants of the country, in the valley of the Zucory. There appears to be very little doubt of its dating from a period before the discovery of America by Columbus. This extraordinary relic has been submitted to the criticism of the best surgeons of Europe, and is regarded by all as evidence of a. most remarkable knowledge of surgery among the Incas, trepanning being considered one of the most difficult- of modem surgical operations. The cutting through the bone was evidently npt performed with a saw, but with a burin or a tool like that used by engravers. We cull the following particulars from a paper read by M. Broce before the Anthropological Society of Parisj after a critical examination of this skull—“ The walls of the skull are very thick, and present all the characteristics of an Incas skull, which it undoubtedly is. The operation consists of four linear incisions, two horizontal and two perpendicular, the horizontal lines cutting the vertic ones at right angles, the included square piece being completely severed from the rest of the skull.” Science would appear not to be making fresh discoveries, blit to be merely regaining knowledge for a time forgotten by the human race.

A writer for the Glasgow News says that the mania for slender figures is to be laid at the door of fashion magazines, where the human figure is invariably represented entirely out of proportion.