Surgical Instruments in Greek and Roman TimesMilne, John Stewart
History
Surgical Instruments in Greek and Roman Times
Milne, John Stewart
Surgery -- History; Surgical instruments and apparatus
Ligulae are found in enormous numbers and in very great variety. They are
toilet articles for extracting from tubes and boxes ointment, the various
salves, balsams, and powders which entered into the mysteries of the Roman
lady's toilet. The ligula is therefore not strictly speaking a surgical
instrument, but as it was used by the laity, and no doubt also by
physicians, for making applications to affected as well as to unaffected
parts, and as it is often found associated with surgical instruments, it
is advisable to bring it within the scope of this investigation. It is
also convenient to do so, because some varieties approach so closely in
form to the true surgical specilla that it is often difficult to decide
which class to place a particular specimen in. In doubtful cases it is
well to remember that the specillum is most usually a combination of two
instruments on one shaft. Brunner (loc. cit.) figures a number of ligulae
from the Swiss museums. These he names specilla oricularia, although
admitting that they are only domestic articles. I have shown, however,
that the specillum oricularium is a well-defined combination of scoop and
probe.
Plate XVIII shows a variety of ligulae from various sources, some simple,
some combined instruments. Figs. 4, 5, 8 are most typical forms. Some of
this simple type are two feet in length. They are often overlaid with
gold. Fig. 7 shows a ligula which has so been treated. It carries a small
fork on which to poise a pellet of semi-solid medicament.
_Spoons for measuring, preparing, and pouring medicaments._
A type of spoon not uncommonly met with has a round bowl about 2 cm. in
diameter, and a handle of about 10 cm. long. Usually they are of bronze;
but occasionally they are of silver, and a considerable number in bone
were found in the Roman Hospital at Baden. They are for measuring
medicaments, heating them, and removing them from unguentaria, &c. They
are often found alongside the glass unguentaria which contained the
salves. They were also used for religious purposes.
Similar spoons with pointed handles are common in finds of domestic
articles. The sharp end is for extracting shellfish, &c. A larger variety
of the unguent spoon has a spout to assist in pouring the contents. This
variety is rather rare.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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