IFEYINWA OKEKE- THE STONE CUTTER

The stone cutter -ifeyinwa okeke

It is interesting to note that there has been enormous advances in the knowlegde about epilepy. In the renaissance demons were thought to cause epilepy but today with the advancement in science epilepy is known to be caused by abnornal brain activity.

THE STONE CUTTER- In the renaissance stones were regarded to cause epilepsy. The stones which cause the disease is believed to be in the brain and had to be removed surgically. People believed themselves to be more enlightened and more scientific, and the demons which comes out of the mouth of the person with epilepsy were suppossed to be the cause of the disease, gradually disappeared in the visual arts. Now it was the gemstones which were believed to act as remedies or an amulet against epilepsy.

The picture below depicts a stone cutter at a fair. The quack surgeon who is clearly happy that his operations has been successful painstakingly moves his knife towards the stone which is already visible. Behind him hangs stones which has been successfully cut out of the heads of other patients as sign of his skill. Next to the quack stands a man who is wringing his hands in desperation as he will be the next patient under the scalpel.

this is taken from a book written by the doctor Antonius Mizaldi.

I find it very interesting how people linked epilepsy throughout history to different things including demons, divine, supernatural and stones. I wonder what were the results to those painful procedures and did people really get better! I am glad science has evolved and we now have better explanation and treatment options.- Omniah

Thanks Omniah for your comment, I completely agree with you and also thankful about the evolution of science and the expansion of knowlege in the area of the pathophysiolgy of different diseases. This is so because now we understand the causes of the different disease and so is working towards finding a cure or as is the case with epilepsy decrease the frequency of seizures or seizure free all together.

Ifeyinwa okeke

Me too, I am grateful we have AED for controlling the condition instead of the stone cutter. Good point Omniah, how did the patient heal afterwards and how big was the incision. I wonder if it was only superfacial, hopefully.

Noha

Hi Noha,

I also wondered about that also. I also wondered if the patients became seizure afterwards. Another thing I wondered about is if the surgeries were performed under any form of anesthetia and also if aseptic techniques were employed to decrease the risk of infection.

I have a lot of unanswered questions about these quack surgeons but at the same time the picture depicts other patients waiting in line to undergo the said procedure so that kept me guessing that probably the surgeries actaully cured the seizures, Just a guess.

Ifeyinwa okeke

Hi Ifeyinwa,

You made an interesting point on this procedure and how people were in line to undergo this invasive procedure. I not sure if it cured the seizure but I can guess that it was very painful and maybe made more damage or harm than it cured.

Simon Rasho

While its easy to look at depictions such as this and compare them to modern medicine it makes me wonder how we will be seen in 100 years treating diseases with medicines that are mostly side effect and some beneficial effect. Kevin Glick

Hi Kevin, you brought up a very important point. I guess those people shown in the picture above were thinking at that time that they are doing an amazing job and nothing can be better than stone cutter surgery. So, you are right what improvement in the epilepsy treatment could be seen in 100, 200 or even 1000 years ? Sherry Sobhy

Hello Omniah, I enjoyed this post, but there are a lot of unanswered questions? How much pain did those patients feel? I doubt there was any kind of anesthesia, even the patient has his arm raised so it looks like he's awake and can feel everything. My other question is how bad (severe) were the epilepsy episodes that made the patients willing to take the risk for this rough surgery. Did the extent of seizers get less over ages and decades?

One last point did these patients even survive after this surgery? It's a totally contaminated environment and there is almost a 100% chance that the patient will get some how infected? Sherry Sobhy

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