Cutting the Stone, also called The Extraction of the Stone of Madness or The Cure of Folly by Hieronymus Bosch (Museo del Prado in Madrid) circa 1494 |
"The great artist Hieronymus Bosch immortalized the scene of a physician trepanning the skull to remove stones in his painting The Cure of Folly, otherwise known as The Extraction of the Stone of Madness. This painting depicts the scene with a dry wit and sarcastic view of the removal of the stone of madness. The 'doctor' in the scene is wearing a funnel hat, an early symbol of madness, indicating that he is also insane. He is trepanning the skull of a patient, in order to retrieve the stone from within the patient’s skull.[...]
Whether ridiculous or not, the practice of removing stones from the heads of the insane continued as late as the 20th century, when practitioners would produce a small stone after the procedure, stating that they had removed it from within the brain." — Elzabeth Roberts, Brain Blogger
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It is interesting to note that the word "stoned" can be attributed to any creature with testicles, especially in the context of animal husbandry. A stallion, a "stoned horse," was often considered "crazy" until it was gelded or broken.
From: An Analytical Digest of the Laws of the District of Columbia by M. Thompson, 1863 (Read more...) |
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