thursday blog 5
here it is.
Folly Stones
The cutting of the stone was a procedure in the 15th century involving trepanation (craniotomy) a surgeon or physician would extract a stone from the head of the afflicted. The stone in question is the “stone of folly” or “stone of madness” which, according to popular superstition, was a cause of mental illness, depression, or stupidity. Such stones could be located anywhere in the body, such as the bowels or back, but were most commonly assigned to the head, where a surgeon would have to cut into the skull to remove them.
Could charlatan “surgeons” have fleeced desperate families by purporting to remove a palmed stone from an impressively bloody scalp wound? Could well-intentioned practitioners have done this as a placebo, to convince despairing patients that they had been “cured”? The scenarios seem plausible. Medical quackery was common in the sixteenth and seventieth centuries, as documented in paintings, books, and edicts of the time. However, there is no historical evidence to suggest that stone extractions were actually conducted in late-medieval or Renaissance Europe, much less a widespread medical scam. Schupbach (1978) suggests that extractions were theatrical performances, farces or tableaux associated with processions and celebrations, and that these paintings were never meant as documentation of real procedures. In any case, medical historians and art historians have disputed whether the sham operations depicted in the “stone of madness” paintings reflect real events, or are allegorical.
At this time, however, trepanning or trepanation (drilling a hole in the skull, preferably without disturbing the brain) was an established medical procedure. Archaeological evidence indicates that trepanning was practiced across Europe (indeed, worldwide) in prehistoric times; in medieval Europe, various medical experts recommended it for a variety of illnesses ranging from skull fracture to epilepsy, insanity, and melancholia.
The stones on display are part of a collection on loan to Durham University from the Wessynton estate from Washington in Northamptonshire.
The Wessyngton family were residents at the old hall Washington from 1183 until 1539 when they moved to Sulgrave Manor, where Gertrude Margaret Lothian Bell (14 July 1868 – 12 July 1926) was born. Gertrude was an English writer, traveler, political officer, administrator, archaeologist and spy who explored, mapped, and became highly influential to British imperial policy-making due to her skill and contacts, built up through extensive travels in Greater Syria, Mesopotamia, Asia Minor, and Arabia. Along with T. E. Lawrence, Bell helped establish the Hashemite dynasties in what is today Jordan as well as in Iraq.
Gertrude transcribed the original documents in 1903 (at the age of 17) the original was written by the physician Thomas Hertburn in 1496 (a family member by marriage to the wessyngtons) sadly the original documents cease to exist.
