In Aetius (_Tet._ II. iii) we see the blunt hook used in the same way as we use an aneurism needle, except that the ligature is not introduced with it, but with another needle. He says we transfix the lips of the incisions with two hooks and gradually dissecting with the scalpel we free the vessel from the underlying fascia. Then with a blunt hook (τυφλάγκιστρον) placed under the vessel we raise it up from the depth, and beneath it when raised we place a two ply thread by means of a needle, and doubly tie and cut between. Paul says: 'Exposing the vessel with dissectors we must raise it up when it is separated all round. If it be small, having stretched and twisted it with a blunt hook, we may divide it through in such a way as to remove part of it. But if it be large we must apply a double ligature under it with a needle, either a piece of raw flax or some other strong thing' (VI. v). The 'eyed hook' is mentioned by Galen in describing the dissection of the spinal cord: Ἐνδέχεται δὲ καὶ χωρὶς βελόνης ἀγκίστρῳ διατρήτῳ γενέσθαι τὴν ἐγχείρησιν, ὡς ἐπὶ τῶν περὶ τὰς καρωτίδας ἀρτηρίας νεύρων εἴωθε ποιεῖσθαι (ii. 669). 'It is advisable that the manipulation be performed not with a needle but with an eyed hook, as is usually done in the case of the tendons in the neighbourhood of the carotid arteries.' A small variety of the blunt hook is mentioned by Celsus, Galen, and Paul. Of the extraction of foreign bodies from the ear Celsus says: Sin aliquid exanime est, specillo oriculario protrahendum est, aut hamulo retuso paulum recurvato (VI. vii). Paul says that if stones of fruits, &c. fall into the ear they must be extracted with an ear scoop, a hook, or a forceps. Both types of blunt hook are represented by extant specimens; see Pl. XXIII, figs. 3, 4. These remind us of our aneurism needles, and it is interesting to note that Galen (_ut supra_) speaks of an 'eyed hook'. The instruments shown in Pl. XXIII, figs. 2, 4 we might look on either as curved retractors or dissectors as they are half sharp. Pl. XXV, fig. 2 shows a hook of crotchet-hook type combined with a scoop. It is from Herculaneum. _The Strigil._ Greek, ξύστρα. Latin, _strigil_. It seems to have been a common method of applying remedies to the auditory canal to warm them in a strigil and pour them in with it. Galen frequently mentions this. In _Med. Sec. Loc._ (xii. 622) he says: Having warmed the fat of a squirrel in a strigil, instil it. Celsus (VI. vii. l) says: In aurem vero infundere aliquod alimentum oportet quod semper ante tepefieri convenit; commodissimeque per strigilem instillatur. Marcellus (IX. l) says: Conteres et in strigili calefacies, et infundes, et lana occludes aurem. Scribonius Largus (xxxix) says: Ad auriculae dolorem et tumorem sine ulcere prodest herbae urceolaris aut cucurbitae ramentorum sucus tepens per strigilem in foramen auris dolentis infusus.