Tuesday, April 10, 2012

18th Century Trephination: It IS brain surgery


Trephination set

Wood, leather, brass, metal, textile; Sirhenry, Paris, 1771-1830

Trephines are the surgical devices used for trephination, or trepanning. The basic practices and tools have remained largely unchanged for centuries. Among the trephines themselves, with their cylindrical blades, are a large brace to hold the trephines during drilling, two rugines to remove connective tissue from bones, two lenticulars to depress brain material during surgery and a brush to remove fine fragments of bone. The styling of the instruments and their box reflects a long tradition of producing surgical and scientific instruments as finely crafted, gentlemanly possessions.

via wellcomecollection.org

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