HISTORY OF BRAIN SURGERY
Brain surgery is perhaps the oldest of the practiced medical arts. No hard
evidence exists suggesting a beginning to the practice of other facets
of medicine such as pharmacology -- using drugs, chemical and natural ingredients
to help a fellow human being. There is ample evidence, however, of brain
surgery, dating back to the Neolithic (late Stone Age) period.
Unearthed remains of successful brain operations, as well as surgical
implements, were found in France-- at one of Europe's noted archeological
digs.
And, the success rate was remarkable, even circa 7,000 B.C.
But, pre-historic evidence of brain surgery was not limited to Europe.
Pre-Incan civilization used brain surgery as an extensive practice as early
as 2,000 B.C. In Paracas, Peru, a desert strip south of Lima, archeologic
evidence indicates that brain surgery was used extensively. Here, too,
an inordinate success rate was noted as patients were restored to health.
The treatment was used for mental illnesses, epilepsy, headaches, organic
diseases, osteomylitis, as well as head injuries.
Brain surgery was also used for both spiritual and magical reasons;
often, the practice was limited to kings, priests and the nobility.
Surgical tools in South America were made of both bronze and man-shaped
obsidian (a hard, sharp-edged volcanic rock).
Africa showed evidence of brain surgery as early as 3,000 B.C. in papyrus
writings found in Egypt. "Brain," the actual word itself, is used here
for the first time in any language. Egyptian knowledge of anatomy may have
been rudimentary, but the ancient civilization did contribute important
notations on the nervous system.
Hippocrates, the father of modern medical ethics, left many texts on
brain surgery. Born on the Aegean Island of Cos in 470 B.C., Hippocrates
was quite familiar with the clinical signs of head injuries. He also described
seizures accurately, as well as spasms and classified head contusions,
fractures and depressions. Many concepts found in his texts were still
in good stead two thousand years after his death in 360 B.C. 
Ancient Rome in the first century A.D. had its brain surgeon star, Aulus
Cornelius Celsus. Hippocrates did not operate on depressed skull fractures;
Celsus often did. Celsus also described the symptoms of brain injury in
great detail.
Asia was home to many talented brain surgeons: Galenus of Pergamon,
born in Turkey, and the physicians of Byzance such as Oribasius (4th century)
and Paul of Aegina. An Islamic school of brain surgery also flourished
from 800 to 1200 A.D., the height of Islamic influence in the world. Abu
Bekr Muhammed el Razi, who lived from 852 to 932 in the Common Era, was
perhaps the greatest of Islamic brain srugeons. A second Islamic brain
surgeon, Abu l'Qluasim Khalaf, lived and practiced in Cordoba, Spain, and
was one of the great influences on western brain surgery.
The Christian surgeons of the Middle Ages were clerics, well educated,
knowledgeable in Latin, and familiar with the realm of medical literature.
Despite the church's ban on study of anatomy, many churchmen of great renown
(advisors and confessors to a succession of Popes) were outstanding physicians
and surgeons. Leonardo Davinci's portfolio containing hundreds of accurate
anatomical sketches indicates the intense intellectual interest in the
workings of the human body despite the Church's ban.
|