Abstract
Pineal calcification, always present, occurs in two out of three normal adults and is visible on a lateral X-ray of the skull in the shape of a small stone. A person who bored into the skull of a fellow human would, moved by curiosity or necessity, probably have had ample opportunity to identify the pineal stone. Trepanation is one of the earliest examples of a surgical procedure performed by humans, and the so-called stone of madness earned its reputation from pictorial motifs in the works of famous Dutch Renaissance artists.
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Cardinali, D.P. (2016). Brief History of the Stone of Madness. In: Ma Vie en Noir. Springer Biographies. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-41679-3_1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-41679-3_1
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