<       M E D I C I N E  A N D  S U R G E R Y

Dr. William Osler (b.1849-1919) has been bestowed the title of the ‘Father of Modern Medicine’.  As a Canadian, one is proud of this distinction (Bond Head, Canada West; Dundas, Ontario).  The practice of medicine can be dated back to thousands and thousands of years, the oldest form being ayurvedic.  Ayurveda is derived from a compound word Ayur + Veda. Ayur in Sanskrit means life and Veda is the science or branch of knowledge.  Surgery, from the Greek word cheirourgia (‘hand work’), is a branch of medicine that treats diseases and injuries with operative, manual, and instrumental techniques.  The earliest known surgical procedure is trepanation, also known as trephinning or trepanning, in which a hole is drilled or scraped into the skull, leaving the membrane around the brain intact. A trepanned cranium found near Kiev, Ukraine, is the oldest yet found, dating back to 7300-6220 BC. Researchers have also uncovered an ancient Egyptian mandible, dated to approximately 2750 BC, having two perforations just below the root of the first molar, indicating the draining of an abscessed tooth.  Recent excavations of the construction workers of the Egyptian pyramids also led to the discovery of evidence of brain surgery on a labourer, who continued living for two years afterwards.