On 18 May 2008 at 11:27, Jim Clark wrote: > I also wonder about how specific this treatment was, which would have > implications for the "knowledge" underlying the surgery? If someone > had a pain in the belly, for example, would a treatment involve > opening up the belly? Unfortunately soft tissue operations analogous > to trepanation presumably leave no anthropological record. I'm > thinking that a procedure specific to the skull might imply more > sophisticated knowledge than a blanket approach to any localized pain. >
Perhaps not directly related, but at least in the same ballpark is this anthropological observation. I recall watching a film shown by Ronald Melzack, the pain guy, possibly when I took a course from him as an undergraduate at McGill, but more likely much later when he gave an invited lecture at Bishop's. In order to illustrate the varieties of painful experience and that what is painful in one culture may not be considered painful in another, he showed some extreme examples. One was of an African suffering some ailment, possibly depression. The treatment administered by the native practitioner (can I call him a witch doctor?) was, apparently without administering any drugs to relieve pain, to incise the patient's scalp in the midline, peel it back on both sides, and vigorously scrub the skull with a scraper. The patient endured this calmly and willingly while sitting under a tree, obligingly holding a pan to catch the blood dripping off his head. It was, as you might expect, hard to watch. I don't recall whether that example made it into Melzack's classic work, _The Puzzle of Pain_ but similar examples, such as the "hook-hanging ritual" of India (see Kosambi, 1967) did. Oh, yes. Let's not forget that there are people who advocate trepanation (including _self_-trepanation) as a means to a higher state of consciousness. They used to have much remarkable material available at their website (http://www.trepan.com/) but at the moment there's nothing there except eerie music and a promise. Wikipedia (under "voluntary trepanation" fills in the gory details. Ref: Kosambi, D. (1967). Living prehistory in India. Scientific American, v 216, 105 Stephen ----------------------------------------------------------------- Stephen L. Black, Ph.D. Professor of Psychology, Emeritus Bishop's University e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] 2600 College St. Sherbrooke QC J1M 1Z7 Canada Subscribe to discussion list (TIPS) for the teaching of psychology at http://flightline.highline.edu/sfrantz/tips/ ----------------------------------------------------------------------- --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
