In Aetius (IV. iv. 23) and Paulus Aegineta (VI. lxxiv) it is used for opening not only the foetal cranium but also the thorax and abdomen of the foetus in transverse presentations. Paul refers to it for opening the thorax in empyema (VI. xliv) and the abdomen in ascites (VI. l). In both cases the outer integument was incised with a scalpel and the deeper layer punctured with the bistoury. In opening the abdomen for ascites, by sliding the outer skin upwards before the peritoneal cut was made, a valvular opening was secured. Although many other interesting applications of this instrument are to be found, these instances will suffice to show that the uses to which the instrument was put agree with the supposition that it was of the shape indicated by the etymology of its name. A variant form of the same name is σκολόπιον which also occurs pretty often. A large variety of this instrument is mentioned by Galen as devised by him for the dissection of the spinal cord. He says he uses a knife of the same shape as the scolopomachaerion, but larger and stouter and made of the best Norican steel, so as to neither blunt, bend, nor break easily (ii. 682). I. A (_b_) _Straight blade cutting on one side, blunt-pointed._ (α) Novacula or razor (Greek ξυρόν, diminutive ξύριον). (β) Blunt-pointed bistoury. (γ) Ring knife for dismembering foetus. _Razor._ Shaving and cutting the hair were looked upon as important means of treatment in several diseases. Oribasius (_Med. Coll._ xxv) has a chapter on this entitled περὶ κουρᾶς καὶ ξυρήσεως. 'These things,' he says, 'have been introduced into medicine as a means of evacuation and as remedies in chronic diseases.' Celsus makes frequent mention of shaving as a means of treatment. Of alopecia he says: Sed nihil melius est quam novacula quotidie radere--quia, cum paulatim summa pellicula excisa est, adaperiuntur piloram radiculae. Neque ante oportet desistere quam frequentem pilum nasci apparuerit (VI. iv). A large scalpel of this form from the Naples Museum is shown in Pl. VI, fig. 1. The handle is of the usual shape and is made of bronze. The blade is of steel. It measures 15 cm. all over, the blade being 2 cm. broad at the heel. The cutting border slopes backward to the back of the blade, which is in a straight line with the border of the handle. At the point the blade is 1·5 cm. broad. It may be noted that this instrument had much the same shape as the _culter_, but _culter_ is not a term applied by any Latin author to a surgical instrument, nor is _cultellus_, although the sixteenth-century translators of Aetius and Paulus Aegineta very frequently use the latter term. Scultetus figures a scalpel of this form and sums up its uses well: