The form of cyathiscomele, in which the two lateral halves of the scoop meet at an angle (Pl. XIV, fig. 1), has a tendency to split along the ridge in the middle of the scoop if roughly handled. One of these, to which this accident has happened, is in the Naples Museum (Pl. XV, fig. 3) and has an interesting history. In 1847 Vulpes described it as a guard for dividing the fraenum linguae, and successive writers have copied this ever since, and it is so described in the catalogue. As the photograph shows, it is only a spoon probe which had been trod on or otherwise damaged, and which had split down the centre, or rather near the centre, for the crack has deviated at its termination from the midline. The termination of the notch thus formed has quite a different appearance from the figure by Vulpes. The accident is not an uncommon one. There is in the Capitoline Museum an instrument to which precisely the same has happened, and I have a probe in my own possession which has split, and which with a little manipulation would make a beautiful duplicate of the one in the Naples Museum (Pl. XV, fig. 1). It is almost certain that the guard is quite a modern invention. Many ancient writers point out the danger of wounding the vein, but none mention the guard. Thus Celsus says: Horum extrema lingua vulsella prehendenda est, sub eaque membrana incidenda: magna cura habita ne venae quae iuxta sunt violentur et profusione sanguinis noceant (VII. xii). Paul says: 'The patient is to be placed in a proper seat, the tongue is to be raised to the roof of the mouth and the membranous fraenum cut transversely. But if the curvature is occasioned by a cicatrix we transfix the callus by a hook and draw it upwards, and making a cross incision free the bent parts, taking care not to make deep incisions of the parts, for haemorrhages, which have been found difficult to stop, have thereby been occasioned' (VI. xxix). Aetius gives a similar account. These writers, then, all take note of the possibility of wounding the vein, but give no clue that they knew of the utility of a cloven plate in preventing the accident. Further, the Arabs, timid operators all and fond of describing safeguards such as this, give no mention of it, although Albucasis, Rhases, Avicenna, and Haly Abbas all describe the operation. I can find no reference to the use of a guard for this purpose until quite recent times. _Ear specillum._ Greek, μηλωτίς, -ίδος, μηλωτρίς, ἀπυρομήλη, τῇ πυρῆνα μὴ ἐχούσῃ τούτεστι τῇ μηλωτρίδι (Galen, Lexicon); ὠτογλυφίς, μήλην ἐξωτίδα (Galen, Lexicon); Latin, _oricularium specillum_ (Celsus); _auriscalpium_ (Scrib. Largus); German, _Ohrlöffel_.