"Highest Achievement"

"The operation of trephining the skull, which was widely and successfully practiced by primitive peoples in nearly all parts of the world, may be considered the highest achievement of prehistoric surgeons."

So wrote Dr. Spencer L. Rogers of California's San Diego State College last week in the American Journal of Physical Anthropology. From the study of 60 prehistoric Peruvian skulls which bore evidence of trephining, Dr. Rogers was able to tell a good deal about the nature and success of the primitive operation. The methods used in removing the bone included drilling, sawing, cutting and scraping. If the patient did not die immediately, new bone tended to grow back although in no case was the hole completely closed. From this evidence Dr. Rogers concluded: that 78% of the victims survived the operation, that 63% lived for several years afterward, as shown by advanced healing. Of the 22% who failed to survive, probably not all died from the operation, since presumably some were fatally ill or wounded when the surgery was undertaken.

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