Have you ever had surgery? What for? The Extraction of the Stone of Madness (The Cure of Folly) by Hieronymous Bosch Let’s as usual start with the history of the word ‘surgery’ for it contains an important fiction. Here is that history, as usual from the invaluable etymonline.com: surgery (n.): c. 1300, sirgirie, “the work of a … More ‘Surgery’. The vindication of the use of tools of violent healing.