This is one of the oldest forms of surgery performed in the Victorian operating theatre. During this surgery a hole was bored into a patient's skull to relieve pressure or remove pieces fractured bone. Archaeological evidence dates the practice back to 7000-5000 BC and the procedure is still performed today. We can find out how trepanation was set up to be performed in the 19th century by delviing into Charles Bell's Illustrations on the Great Operations of Surgery (1821): "let there be a to hold the patient's head firmly, and let others put their hands on his arms and knees. The surgeon will expect the instruments to be handed to him in this succession - the scalpel; the rasparatory; the trephine; the brush; the quill, and probe, ... the elevator, the forceps, the lenticular." ![[Pasted image 20230910234951.png]]