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

  • Milne, John Stewart, 1871-
Date:
1907
Catalogue details

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)

    85/316 (page 69)
    Lexicon, where firj\r]v laxvpdv is stated to mean ttjv TpavfiaTLK^v ixr)kr)v. It will easily be seen that the specillum vulnerarium has considerable affinity with the other class of spoon probes which I constituted, viz. the class of cyathiscomeles—for these had a scoop at one end—and this being specially intended for wounds most likely had a certain amount of olivary enlargement at its tip, but smaller than the olive of a cyathiscomele, which was too large for ordinary wounds. The typical ear specilla and the typical cyathis- comeles both form well defined groups, but between these innumerable gradations occur among the specimens extant. For practical purposes it is convenient to class all these intermediate forms as specilla vulneraria. Handled Needles. In the find of the oculist Severus were no less than nine handles for needles. Of these, six were merely cylinders of bronze, expanded slightly at one end and perforated at the other with a small hole for a needle. They were from 72 to 40 mm. long and 7 to 5 mm. in diameter. Two were hexagonal, four were round (PL XXI, figs. 2, 4, PI. XYI, figs. 3, 4, 5, 6). Two others had the same holes for needles at one end, but at the other they were pierced with a slot, 10 mm. deep, for the insertion of a knife blade. One was 60 x 7 mm., the other 53 x 5 mm. (PL II, figs. 1, 2). Another, perforated at one end as before, carried at the other an olive-pointed probe, It was 8 cm. in length, and of this 3-5 cm. consisted of a hexagonal handle 3-5 cm. in diameter. The remainder was cylindrical, and it terminated in a probe point with a slight olivary enlargement (PL XVI, fig. 2). In all cases the needles had evidently been made of steel and had entirely disappeared. We have many allusions to the use of handled needles in ophthalmic work. In describing the couching of cataract Celsus says: Turn acus admovenda est, acuta ut foret sed non nimium tenuis (VII. vii).