Jump to content

Stone of madness

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
(Redirected from Stone of folly)
Hieronymus Bosch, The Extraction of the Stone of Madness

The stone of madness, also called stone of folly, was a hypothetical stone in a patient's head, thought to be the cause of madness, idiocy or dementia. From the 15th century onwards, removing the stone by trepanation was proposed as a remedy.[1][2] This procedure is demonstrated in the painting The Extraction of the Stone of Madness by Hieronymus Bosch.[3]

[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ Vigué, Jordi (2002). Great Masters of Western Art. Watson-Guptill. p. 71. ISBN 0-8230-2113-0.
  2. ^ Shorter, Edward (1997). A History of Psychiatry. Wiley. p. 225. ISBN 0-471-24531-3.
  3. ^ Povoledo, Elisabetta (October 27, 2008). "In Rome, a New Museum Invites a Hands-On Approach to Insanity". The Economist. Retrieved 2008-10-28.
[edit]