Pelvis ae AINING IN PRR 
By MANUEL ANTONIO MuNiz, M. D., AND W J McGEE 
SUMMARY STATEMENT 
(M. A. M.) 
Much has been written on prehistoric trephining, and it is a well- 
understood fact that in the ancient villages of this and of the Old 
World, and even in some of the settlements of the present savages, 
trephining has been known and practiced, not only for religious pur- 
poses but also for surgical purposes, to effect a cure of disorders con- 
sequent on traumatic lesions of the cranium and also as a means of 
treating certain cerebral diseases. 
Therefore the historico-bibliographic matters with which every arche- 
ologist is perfectly well acquainted may be omitted. 
If we take into account the class of offensive weapons used by the 
ancient Peruvians in their terrible conflicts, almost hand to hand, it 
will easily be comprehended that complex fracture of the skull with 
depression of its bony plates must have been very common. In fact, 
they were accustomed to throw stones of more or less round or irregu- 
Jar Shape to great distances with high initial velocity by means of the 
sling; they were also armed with large wooden clubs, extremely hard, 
in the ends of which splints of copper or stone were fastened, as well 
as hatchets of both these materials and of diverse forms. 
Without treating of the order in which the different civilizations of 
ancient Peru were developed and gained predominance, it may only be 
observed that it is certain the aborigines possessed advanced medical 
knowledge, making use of a magnificent flora, full today of secrets to 
us. They knew how to reduce luxation effectively, and employed fixa- 
tion to consolidate fractures, sometimes having recourse in both cases 
to kneading (massage); they knew the dangers of free exposure of 
wounds to the air, curing these very thoroughly; they could easily dis. 
tinguish syphilis, rheumatism, ague, fevers, cerebral disturbance, men- 
tal aberration, ete. Fragments of flint sharpened to a point were used 
for bleeding and excising pterygiums, and the same sharpened on the 
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