What Galen means by πρόμηκες when applied to an instrument he has himself explained in a note on the chapter by Hippocrates on the treatment of dislocation of the shoulder. He applies it to instruments long in proportion to their breadth (see p. 118). The knife referred to here is a large strong instrument, for it is intended for cutting through the lateral processes of the vertebrae. _Phlebotome._ Greek, φλεβοτόμον, τὸ (sc. σμιλίον), also φλεβοτόμος, ὁ (Galen). ὀξυβελές (sc. ὄργανον); Latin, _phlebotomum_ (late), _scalpellus_. Although venesection is one of the most frequently mentioned operations, and although the phlebotome is one of the most frequently named instruments, we have no passage giving even the most meagre description of this instrument. It is assumed that its appearance would be familiar to every one, since phlebotomy was so common. Celsus tells us that every one old and young was bled. Sanguinem, incisa vena, mitti, novum non est, sed nullum paene morbum esse in quo non mittatur novum est (II. x). The operation continued just as frequent all through the Roman period, and the writings on venesection are very voluminous. Galen has three treatises on the subject. The operation was performed in exactly the same way as at the present day, and the lancet was apparently the same as that figured in modern instrument catalogues, viz. sharp-pointed, double-edged, and straight. A consideration of all the various operations to which the phlebotome was put bears this out. The following passage from Hippocrates shows that there were various sizes of the phlebotome: Τοῖς γε μαχαιρίοις ὀξέσι δεῖ χρῆσθαι καὶ πλάτεσι, οὐκ ἐπὶ πάντων ὁμοίως παραγγέλλομεν, κτλ. (i. 60). 'We do not recommend that the lancets narrow and broad should be used indiscriminately in all cases, for there are certain parts of the body which have a swift current of blood which it is not easy to stop. Such are varices and certain other veins. Therefore, it is necessary in these to make narrow openings, for otherwise it is not possible to stop the flow. Yet it is sometimes necessary to let blood from them. But in places not dangerous, and about which the blood is not thin, we use the lancets broader (πλατυτέροις χρῆσθαι τοῖς μαχαιρίοις), for thus and not otherwise will the blood flow.'