Surgical instruments in Greek and Roman times / by John Stewart Milne.

  • Milne, John Stewart, 1871-
Date:
1907
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Licence: In copyright

Credit: Surgical instruments in Greek and Roman times / by John Stewart Milne. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by UCL Library Services. The original may be consulted at UCL (University College London)

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    probe (bid Ttrprinivov KoirapCov) Briau translates it by 'an moyen du manche perce d'un scalpel', an expression which is meaningless to a surgeon. Briau evidently thinks it is derived from kotjto), and at times it seems as if it might de- note a cutting instrument. Thus Adams, in a note to Paul, VI. lxxvii, says,' if the Konapiov, however, was the same as the \xr]kr] or specillum it was evidently used for cutting with, as well as for cutting upon ', and on one occasion (Paul, VI. lxxx) he translates Koirdpiov by ' knife '. Liddell and Scott translate it as 'a small knife'. A careful examination of those passages where it seems to indicate a cutting instrument will show, however, that only blunt dissection, which was frequently performed with the spatula end of a probe, is meant. I am quite convinced that the word Ko-ndpiov is only a late Greek term for the earlier /xtjAt?, and means essentially a sound, and not a knife. While on this subject we may note that throughout the codices and texts there is great confusion between words meaning probe and words meaning scalpel. The proper forms o-^Ajj, ' scalpel,' and jaijXtj, 'probe,' are distinct, but the inferior reading cr^Xr) is frequent in both codices and texts as a bastard, for aixCkrj is often written aprjkr] incorrectly, and jurjATi often becomes 07x7^77, just as jxLKpos is written opucpcfe. Thus in Paul (VI. viii), where the author is describing the eversion of the eyelid by means of the olivary point of a probe (tw nvprjvi rrjs ^Atis), four codices and the Aldine and Basle texts read o^t/Ati?, two codices read o-juvA.77?, one reads iut/At??, four fxtAris, and Briau reads o-^tAris. In a case like this only a knowledge of surgery can tell us whether a probe or scalpel is meant. The Specillum as a Sound. The ancients were fully aware of the value of the informa- tion to be gained by searching the recesses of a lesion with a rod of metal. Celsus (v. 28) says regarding fistulae: Ante omnia autem demitti specillum in fistulam convenit, ut quo tendat et quam alte perveniat scire possimus ; simul etiam protinus humida an siccior sit: quod extracto specillo