Epilation as a purely surgical operation was frequently necessary for the trichiasis consequent on the granular ophthalmia which was so common among the Romans. Paul (VI. xiii) says:

‘Turn the eyelid outwards and, with an epilation forceps (τριχολαβίῳ) dragging out the offending hairs, either one, or two, or three or whatever number there are. Then apply a heated olivary probe or an aural probe or some such slender instrument to the place from whence the hair or hairs have been removed.’

The numbers of toilet epilation forceps which have been found are enormous. Moreover, forceps of exactly similar form were in use in every household as accessories of the lamp for raising and snuffing the wick, and artisans used them also for the finer manipulations of their crafts; so that by far the largest number of forceps of this type are not surgical instruments, but household implements. However, we have plenty of specimens from purely surgical finds.

Of the surgical instruments all forms agree in having no teeth. The simplest form consists of a strip of metal bent on itself straight as in [Pl. XXVI, fig. 3], or with the jaws turned inwards, as in [Pl. XXVI, fig. 5]. These are often pocket forceps. A ‘pocket-companion’, consisting of a toilet forceps, an ear-pick and a nail-cleaner, such as is seen in [Pl. XXVI, fig. 4], is a common object in museums, such as the Guildhall Museum, where this object is. A variety of epilation forceps with rounded legs is seen in [Pl. XXVI, fig. 2]. Several of these have been obtained from purely surgical finds. Others are formed by sawing a bar of bronze up its centre, as in the specimen shown in [Pl. XXVI, fig. 1], which is 13 cm. 4 mm. long, and with jaws 10 mm. broad. It is from the Naples Museum.

This is the form most typical of the surgical epilation forceps. Several of this type were found in the grave of the oculist Gaius F. Severus at Rheims ([Pl. XXVI, fig. 6]). They are very large powerful instruments, from 15 to 16 cm. long, and with jaws 7 to 8 mm. in breadth (Deneffe, Oc. du 3e siècle, ii. 1-8). This form was no doubt used as a dissecting forceps or tumour vulsellum as well as for epilation, but the typical tumour forceps was toothed, and it is convenient to classify all those of the untoothed type as epilation forceps.

Other epilation forceps, which are however more likely to be toilet articles, have the jaws of extreme breadth, as in [Pl. XXVII, fig. 3] from the Mainz Museum. It has a sliding catch. They are evidently intended to remove a considerable number of hairs at once, or to fix them while they were cut with razor or shears.

It is certain, however, that in addition to these broader forceps a variety with quite narrow blades was used, as Paul (VI. xxiv) tells us that stones, &c. may be removed from the ear with epilation forceps (τριχολαβίῳ), and again in fracture of the nose Paul (VI. xxiv) says that splinters of detached bone are to be removed with these forceps. We have several forceps of this type. There are in the Naples Museum three, one from Pompeii, two from Herculaneum (Deneffe). One from my own collection is shown in [Pl. XXVI, fig. 2]. The points are narrow and rounded.

A very interesting form is seen in [Pl. XXVII, fig. 4], which shows a forceps in the Thorwaldsen Museum, Copenhagen. It is 12 cm. long, of which 6 cm. of the upper end are solid and round. The remainder of the length is occupied by the blades of the forceps, each 5 mm. broad, except for 12 mm. at the extremity, where it expands into a leaf-shaped portion, 10 mm. broad in its broader part. These leaf-shaped expansions oppose each other accurately, and on the narrow part of the blade above them there slides a rectangular catch which serves to clamp the blades and fix them like the jaws of a vice.

The surgical epilation forceps is, as we have seen, usually a simple instrument. Occasionally we meet with a forceps combined with some other instrument. These are, as a rule, toilet articles. A pocket ear-scoop and epilation forceps combined was found in Paris. Precisely similar articles of steel may be bought in chemists’ shops to-day. Another has a small unguent spatula combined with a forceps, while others carry olivary probes. There are several of these in the St-Germain-en-Laye Museum ([Pl. XXVII, figs. 5, 2]). One from Melos, in the Athens Museum, has a porte-caustique.

Polypus Forceps.