SOCIETY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ABERDEEN. 49 



as a blunt hook, and also, as we know from Rufus of Ephesus, for 

 extracting the calculus in lithotomy. The prevailing type of scalpel, 

 be it noted, is a bellied scalpel, of a form not in use at the present day, 

 but really a most serviceable instrument, and, judging also by the large 

 proportion in which it figures among the scalpels excavated in Pompeii, 

 it seems to have been almost the typical form. This form of blade is 

 referred to by Hippocrates as the " chest-like " snipe (crrr/^oeiSTjs), be- 

 cause it is like the chest on antero-posterior section. Galen calls it 

 the bellied scalpel in another work, but he does not mention it specially 

 by name in his anatomical writings. 



Blades of the general form of the manubriolus described, i.e., 

 with the edges running together at the tip, are called by the Greeks 

 ju.v/Dcriz'oei.STjs shaped like a myrtle and Galen mentions scalpels of 

 this shape as used in dissection. 



In Book viii., in describing the dissection of the thorax, he men- 

 tions a scalpel with the curved part forged so that the edges on either 

 side are sharp, but concave on one side and convex on the other. 



A scalpel with the tip curving slightly inwards was called 

 o-/coXo7ro/Aa^at/3(,ov, scoloponrachoirion (o-KoXoTraf, a snipe ; p,a^aipi,ov, 

 scalpel), and this knife is mentioned in the dissection of the vertebral 

 canal. He divides the arches by a knife invented by himself, shaped 

 like a scolopomachaerion, and made of the best steel, such as is made 

 in Norica, so that it may neither blunt quickly, nor bend nor break, 

 but larger than the surgical instrument, so that it may go ahead 

 quickly (Book viii., c. 6). The above passage is interesting as show- 

 ing in actual words the quality of the steel at the disposal of the 

 ancient anatomist, although we have plenty of outside evidence to 

 show that good steel was quite plentiful. 



He goes on to describe another special knife used in the further 

 opening up of the canal the " long knife " (Trpo/xry/ces p-a^aiptov). 

 " This," he says, " I call the one which has two sharp edges run- 

 ning into one at the tip." Galen himself describes exactly what 



he means by " Trpo/xif/ces " as applied to an instrument in another place. 



7 



