VOL. XVIII. (i) THE PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS 13 



scraper. He came to the conclusion that the operation was 

 intended to release the spirit supposed to be the cause of 

 diseases like epilepsy and convulsions, and he pointed out that 

 trepanning, as a remedy for convulsive disorders, is still in 

 favour with the races of Oceania, with the Kabyles, and the 

 mountaineers of Montenegro. Dr Broca also produced ex- 

 amples of incomplete trepanning, like the specimen from the 

 Wye valley ; and he showed that the piece removed from the 

 trepanned skull was worn as a charm to cure or prevent those 

 diseases for which trepanning was practised as a remedy, and 

 that such amulets were in such request that they became 

 articles of commerce. The question was again raised by the 

 great surgeon. Sir Victor Horsley,' who proved this remark- 

 able fact, that in almost all these primitive operations the 

 incision was made over that portion of the brain which is 

 known to be the seat of representation of movement, and 

 that they were therefore obviously intended to relieve epilepsy. 

 Since that time the question has been again considered by 

 Dr R. Munro, who generally supports the conclusions of 

 previous observers, and gives an illustration of a skull from 

 a cist at Mountstuart, Bute, in which the operation was 

 completely, if rudely, performed.^ 



I may also, as an illustration of what discoveries may be 

 made in our district, note the interesting " find " by Mr J. E. 

 I'ritchard at Bristol, at a depth of 20 feet, of the skull of a 

 horse, which has been identified by Professor Cossar Ewart 

 as belonging to a small, slender-limbed horse or pony of the 

 Plateau type, which occurred as a wild species during Pliocene 

 times in Italy and France, and in other parts of Europe during 

 the Bronze, Neolithic, and early La Tene Iron periods.^ 



As a suggestion for future work, I may point out that 

 from the paper of Mr Paine on the Great Doward Cave it 

 appears that a number of caves containing remains of early 

 man, situated in the cliffs overhanging the valley of the Wye, 

 have not as yet been surveyed or examined. A scheme to 

 undertake the exploration of these caves in co-operation 



1. Ibid. xvii. (1888) pp. 100 tt seqq. 



2. Proceedings Society of Antiquaries, Scotland, vol. xxvi. : Prehistoric Scotland (1890) P- 213- 



3. Transactions of the Bristol and Gloucestershire Archceological Society, xxxiv. (igii) Part I. 

 pp. 76, et seq. 



