SOCIETY OF THE UNIVERSITY OP ABERDEEN. 47 



THE DISSECTING INSTEUMENTS OF THE GEEEK AND 

 EOMAN ANATOMISTS. 



By J. S. MILNE, M.A., M.D., Hartlepool. 

 (Bead 10th June, 1905.) 



The information we possess about the instruments in use by the 

 Grteco-Roman anatomists is entirely contained in the work by Galen, 

 entitled IIEPI ANATOMIKftN EFXEIPHSEIiN, i.e., "On Practical 

 Anatomy ". The other extant works on anatomy are purely descrip- 

 tive or theoretical, and contain no references to instruments. Galen 

 lived from A.D. 130-200. He was a most voluminous writer on surgery 

 and anatomy, and knew far more about these subjects than most 

 people at the present day would give him credit for. The most acces- 

 sible edition of his works is one by Kuchon, in twenty volumes, con- 

 taining the Greek text, with a Latin translation. The work on 

 dissection consists of nine books. Mention is made of dissection of 

 human bodies by other persons, but Galen himself only advocates 

 dissection of various animals, such as apes and piglings ; and, as the 

 dissection of animals was sometimes of the nature of vivisection, it is 

 natural that surgical instruments were used, just as at the present day 

 some of the instruments we use are common to the dissecting-room 

 and operating theatre. In several cases, however, a description is 

 given of special instruments for dissection, such as special knives for 

 laying open the vertebral canal. For the coarser manipulations in 

 dissecting animals, domestic and artisan's implements were used. 



SCALPELS. 



The handle of the typical scalpel consisted of bronze, the steel 

 blade being inserted into a slot at the end and fixed by winding a 



