of four years were trepanned in order to "prevent them from being plagued in their after lives by the flow of rheum from the head." The operation sometimes made the child go into convulsions and they were then sprinkled with goat urine.
             In the northwest corner of Africa, trepanning is used to remove bone fragments after head injury. In this procedure "the scalp over the site is branded away to bare the bone and to check hemorrhage, then, to let out the pus or blood, a hole is made in the skull by spinning a drill between the palms of the hands. Care is taken to protect the brain and its membranes, and to avoid the cranial sutures, which are believed to be the patient's destiny written by the hand of Allah. Using saws and elevators, 'bad bone' is removed day after day. Finally, the wound is dressed with honey, butter, and herbs, and allowed to granulate in."
             In the Zulu tribe in South Africa, when a patient's head is too hot, aches, and throbs after suffering from a sharp blow, the cure is to make an opening on the area that was struck. When the bone is reached, they scrape it and then leave it to heal. By then the headache is gone. This type of trepanning is called umhlahlo.
             In Somalia trepanation was by the medicine men. The Ganda, Nkole, and Soga of Uganda, readily treated headaches with trepanning and also cauterization, which is the process of burning and searing abnormal tissue. The Lugbara in northwest Uganda trepanned the head to "let out the evil spirit which was causing an intractable headache." (Margetts)
             Last year a skull was discovered in Britain that had evidence of trepanation. It was a male skull with a hole at the top, made by trepanning. The procedure apparently was successful since the man lived and only died about six months later probably due to unrelated causes. There were no signs that the wound became infected and the surgeon's skills would have...