Template:POTD/2008-05-01

Picture of the day
Trepanation
A 1525 engraving of trepanation, from the Handywarke of surgeri. Trepanation was the practice of drilling holes in the skull for various reasons, some justified and others not. When this engraving was made, there were no anaesthetics, so the best the unfortunate patient could hope for was passing out drunk. Nonetheless, the survival rate was quite high.Illustration: Peter Treveris