stone of madness

{{short description|Hypothetical stone in medieval folklore}}

File:Hieronymus Bosch-Removing the Rocks from the Head-Detail.jpg, 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.{{cite book |last=Vigué |first=Jordi |title=Great Masters of Western Art |publisher=Watson-Guptill |year=2002 | url=https://archive.org/details/greatmastersofwe00jord |url-access=registration |page=[https://archive.org/details/greatmastersofwe00jord/page/71 71] |isbn=0-8230-2113-0 }}{{cite book |last=Shorter |first=Edward |title=A History of Psychiatry |year=1997 |publisher=Wiley | url=https://archive.org/details/historyofpsychia0000shor |url-access=registration |page=[https://archive.org/details/historyofpsychia0000shor/page/225 225] |isbn=0-471-24531-3 }} This procedure is demonstrated in the painting The Extraction of the Stone of Madness by Hieronymus Bosch.{{cite news |first= Elisabetta|last= Povoledo|title=In Rome, a New Museum Invites a Hands-On Approach to Insanity |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/28/arts/design/28insa.html?partner=rssnyt&emc=rss |work=The Economist |date=October 27, 2008 |accessdate=2008-10-28 }}