Hooks blunt and sharp are frequently mentioned in both Greek and Latin literature, and served the same purposes as we use them for; the blunt for dissecting and raising blood-vessels like the modern aneurism needle, the sharp for seizing and raising small pieces of tissue for excision, and for fixing and retracting the edges of wounds. We are fortunate also in possessing many fine specimens of both sharp and blunt hooks in museums, &c. In the Naples Museum alone there are upwards of forty examples of hooks. Of pterygium Celsus says: Tum idem medicus hamulum acutum, paulum mucrone intus recurvato, subiicere extremo ungui debet eumque infigere; atque eam quoque palpebram tradere alteri; ipse, hamulo apprehenso, levare unguem eumque acu traiicere linum trahente (VII. vii). Aetius also mentions this use of the sharp hook: 'And, transfixing the pterygium with a hook (καὶ ἀγκίστρῳ καταπείροντες περὶ τὰ μέσα τὸ πτερύγιον), we gently make traction on it' (_Tet._ II. iii. 60). Paul also says: 'Seizing the pterygium with a hook with a small curve, (ἀγκίστρῳ μικροκαμπεῖ ἀναδειξάμενοι) we stretch it' (VI. xviii). The method of excision of the tonsil described by Celsus, Aetius, and Paul is to bring the tonsil into view by dragging on it with a sharp hook and then amputating it. Thus Paul says: 'Wherefore seating the person in the light of the sun, and, directing him to open his mouth, while one assistant holds his head and another presses down the tongue to the lower jaw with a tongue depressor we take a hook (ἄγκιστρον) and transfix the tonsil with it and draw it outwards as much as we can without drawing the capsule along with it, and then we cut it out by the root with the tonsil knife suited to that hand' (VI. xxx). In contraction of the vulva, Paul says: 'Having transfixed the connecting body, whether flesh or membrane, with hooks, we stretch it and divide it with the fistula knife' (VI. lxxii). Similarly Celsus (VII. xxviii) says: At si caro increvit, necessaria est recta linea patefacere; tum ab ora, vel vulsella vel hamo apprehensa, tamquam habenulam excidere. In dissection, many of the manipulations which we perform with the dissecting forceps were performed by the ancients with sharp hooks. Pl. XXIV, figs. 1-5 represent specimens from various sources; some simple, others combined with another implement. _Blunt Hooks._ Greek, τυφλάγκιστρον; Latin, _hamus retusus_. Aetius (_Tet._ III. i. 13) says: 'Whatever adhesions there are of the lower border of the lids to the tunics of the eye, we must put them on the stretch with a blunt hook (τυφλαγκίστρῳ) and with a pterygotome free the adhesion.'