Scio me retro ad inspiciendam altitudinem mulieris frequentius organi mentionem fecisse quod Graecitas dioptran vocat. Et quoniam nisi insinuata fuerit disciplina quatenus hoc ipsud fieri possit, occurrente necessitate obstetrices facere non audent, idcirco placuit nobis ut etiam hoc gynaeciis adderemus, ut ex rebus huic corpori necessariis nihil dimisisse videamur. Itaque supinam iactans eam quae inspici habet, accipies fasciam longam et in media parte eius duobus laqueis factis, ita ut inter se cubitum unum habeant laquei illi, duabus vero manibus mulieris missis, medietatem quae interest cervici eius inducis. Deinde reliqua fasciae sub anquilas missa ad manus alligabis, ita ut patefacti pedes ventri eius cohaereant. Deinde accepto organo et uncto priapisco, quem Graeci loton dicunt, in aliquantum ad prunas calefacere (debes), deinde sine quassatione priapiscum inicere, susum scilicet axe posito, iubere etiam ministro ut aperiendo organo axem torquere incipiat, ut paulatim partes ipsae aperiantur. Cum vero post visum organo tollere volueris, ministro iubere ut iterum axem torqueat quo organum claudi possit, ita tamen ut cum adhuc in aliquantum patet sic auferatur, ne universa clusura aliquas teneat et nocere incipiat. We have also preserved by Paul a chapter by Archigenes on abscess of the womb (VI. lxxiii), in which the different parts of the speculum are again named, and from it also we learn that there were different sizes of the instrument proportioned to suit different ages. The patient having been fixed in the lithotomy position in the manner described by Soranus: 'The operator is to make the examination with a speculum (διόπτρα) proportioned to the age of the patient. The person using the speculum should measure with a probe the depth of the woman's vagina, lest the priapiscus of the speculum (τοῦ τῆς διόπτρας λωτοῦ) being too long it should happen that the uterus be pressed on. If it be ascertained that the tube is longer than the woman's vagina, folded compresses are to be laid on the labia in order that the speculum may be laid on them. The priapiscus is to be introduced while the screw (τὸν κοχλίον) is uppermost. The speculum is to be held by the operator. The screw is to be turned by the assistant, so that the blades of the tube (τῶν ἐμπλησμάτων τοῦ λωτοῦ) being separated, the vagina may be expanded.'