The word _Penicillum_ occurs in the writings of Pliny and Celsus, and is used by these ancient authorities in such a manner as to give countenance to each of the preceding opinions. Thus Pliny, in his chapter on sponges (_De Spongiarum Natura_), speaks of a variety of very fine sponge under the name of _Penicillum_; and this, when soaked in a preparation of honeyed wine (mulso), was, he says, applied to tumours of the eyes.[528] These _Penicilli_ were also (he adds) useful, when very soft and fine, in cleansing the eye in ophthalmy.[529] Celsus, in his observations on the diseases of the eye, three or four times, and in different senses, uses the term. In inflammation of the eye, he recommends the eyes to be fomented with a _Penicillum_ or pledget, squeezed out of a warm watery decoction of myrtle or rose leaves, before local medicines and collyria are applied to them.[530] Elsewhere, he recommends a pledget or _Penicillum_ to be laid, or, if necessary, bound over the eyes, squeezed out of water; or, if the attack is more severe, out of vinegar and water (_Penicillo_ uti expresso ex aqua; si major, ex posca).[531] In another passage, he states that in intense ophthalmia the white of an egg or the milk of woman, dropped into the eye with a _Penicillum_, relieves the inflammation, and that this may be used by the patient when neither a physician nor other medicines are at hand.[532] And again, he recommends the patient to take a bath, and foment his head and eyes freely with the warm water, then to wipe both with a _Penicillum_, and anoint his head with iris ointment.[533] Here we have the _Penicillum_ used by the same author as a mechanical means both of cleansing the eye and of making local applications to it. Further, in his chapter on the surgery of the eyes, Celsus uses the word _Penicillum_ in the signification of tents. Thus, in describing the operation for ancyloblepharon, or agglutination of the eyelids, he directs the eyelids, after being separated by a probe, to be kept asunder by small _penicilla_ laid between them, till the ulceration of the part is cured.[534]