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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    (hnrvprjvov rpr/juart), and we push the other end of the probe (to €T€pov ire pas rod hn:vpr]vov) upwards to the ethmoid open- ings, withdrawing it by the palate and the mouth, and then pulling with both hands we, as it were, saw the fleshy- bodies away by means of the knots.' PL XI, figs. 5 and 3 show single olive probes for the appli- cation of semi-solid medicaments. The former is from the outfit of the oculist of Rheims, in the Museum at St- Germain-en-Laye; the latter, more highly ornamented by spirally twisting the stem, is from my own collection. Spathomele or Spatula probe. Greek, virdXemTpov, a-na6oixr]kr]; Latin, spathomele (Theo- doras Priscianus), spathomela (Marcellus); German, Spatel- sonde. Almost every medical writer mentions the spathomele. It consists of a long shaft with an olivary point at one end and a spatula at the other. Galen (Lex.) calls the one arpoyyvkov pLrjk-qv, the other ixr\Xr\ irXarela. It was a pharma- ceutical rather than a strictly surgical instrument. The olive end was used for stirring medicaments, the spatula for spread- ing them on the affected part or on lint. Galen (xiii. 466) says that certain applications are to be softened in the hand with rosaceum by means of the spathomele (/^aAa£as e7rl rrjs \€ipds bia Ona0ofjiri\r]s). Marcellus frequently refers to it as used for stirring liquids in a vessel : Immo manu vel digitis moderantibus paulatim insperges et adsidue spathomela commovebis et permiscebis, post haec omnia mittes oleum chamaemelinum, et iterum igni non nimio adposita olla lente et paulatim decoques medicamen, ita ut illud manu non contingas, sed spathomela agites (vii. 19). In xiv. 44 he mentions a spathomele of copper: Oportet autem moveri aquam ipsam rudicula vel spatho- mela aeris rubri. The following passage from Theodoras Priscianus refers to its use for applying ointment to an affected part: