This is the only reference to the acanthobolus I have met with, and it gives us no information as to the appearance of the instrument. It is noteworthy, however, that Paul in his chapter on the removal of spiny bodies from the pharynx is copying Aetius, and the instrument Aetius names is an epilation forceps. He says ‘bones stick near the tonsil or back of the pharynx and can be seen, and if a considerable part projects out of the tonsil it can be removed with an epilation forceps (τριχολαβίῳ)’. A forceps of the epilation type, but angled in its length, is figured by Védrènes. It was found in Pompeii. This forceps is eminently suitable for pharyngeal work ([Pl. XXXII, fig. 1]). Albucasis figures an acanthobolus with an up-and-down, not lateral, movement.
CHAPTER VI
BLEEDING CUPS, CLYSTERS, ETC.
Bleeding Cups.
Greek, σικύα, κύαθος; Latin, cucurbitula.
The extraction of blood by means of cups has been practised from remote antiquity. The Hindoo Vedas mention it, and it is interesting to note that one of the methods was to apply a gourd with fire in it, for both the Latin cucurbitula and Greek σικύα signify a gourd. The usual theory as to its action was that in a diseased part there was a vicious πνεῦμα which required removal.
Celsus (II. xi) thus describes the different kinds of cups:
Cucurbitularum vero duo genera sunt; aeneum, et corneum. Aenea, altera parte patet, altera clausa, est; cornea, altera parte aeque patens, altera foramen habet exiguum. In aeneam linamentum ardens coniicitur, ac sic os eius corpori aptatur, imprimiturque donec inhaereat. Cornea per se corpori imponitur; deinde ubi ea parte qua exiguum foramen est ore spiritus adductus est, superque cera cavum id clausum est, aeque inhaerescit. Utraque non ex his tantum materiae generibus, sed etiam ex quolibet alio recte fit. Ac si cetera defecerunt, caliculus quoque, aut pultarius oris compressioris, ei rei commode aptatur. Ubi inhaesit, si concisa ante scalpello cutis est, sanguinem extrahit; si integra est, spiritum.