These somewhat scanty materials, summed up, give us the following results. We find the instrument used for opening the chorion, opening abscess of the womb, perforating the foetal cranium, drawing blood from the inside of the nose, and opening abscess of the tonsil. It cannot have been a needle, as Adams and Cornarius translate it, as some of these applications (e. g. perforating the foetal cranium) could not have been performed with a needle. The uses to which the instrument was put correspond very closely to the uses of the phlebotome, and from this and from the etymological significance of the word I am inclined to think that if it is not identical with the phlebotome it is at least only a variety of that instrument, with a handle longer than usual in order to adapt it for uterine and intranasal operations. _Spathion and Hemispathion._ Greek, σπαθίον (diminutive of σπάθη), ἡμισπάθιον; Latin, _spatha_. On several occasions a knife called σπαθίον is mentioned. Paul (VI. lxxiii) says of abscess of the womb: 'When the abscess is explored, if it is soft (and this may be ascertained by touching it with the finger) it is to be opened with a spathion or a needle knife' (σπαθίῳ ἢ κατιάδι). Again, Paul (VI. lxxviii) says: Find the orifice of the fistula, pass an ear probe through it and cut down upon it. Divide the whole fistula with a hemispathion or a fistula-knife (ἡμισπαθίῳ ἢ σπαθίῳ συριγγοτόμῳ). What the nature of the σπαθίον was, if indeed it was a distinct instrument and not a term for scalpels in general, we cannot definitely say. The etymology of the word would indicate a blade of the shape of a weaver's spattle, the two edges running into one at the point. Heister (i. 651) and Rhodius (Commentar. in _Scrib. Larg._ p. 46) agree in making the spathion a large two-edged scalpel, as also does Scultetus, who says of it: Scalpellum ancipitem esse utrimque acutum et in superiore parte paulo latum, qui in extremitate sua in unam cuspidem coiret (_Arm. Chir._ Tab. II, fig. 1). We shall see that one variety of spathion--that for detaching nasal polypus--was certainly of this shape. Rhodius (loc. cit.) says the hemispathion is a small variety of the spathion. An instrument in the Louvre has two blades of this shape at either end of a round handle ornamented with rolling grooves (Pl. VIII, fig. 8). _Polypus Knife._ Greek, πολυπικὸν σπαθίον, πολυποδικὸν σπαθίον; Latin, _ferramentum acutum modo spathae factum_. Paulus Aegineta (VI. xxv) thus describes the excision of nasal polypus: