Celsus (VII. viii) says:
At ubi aures in viro puta, perforatae sunt et offendunt, traiicere id cavum celeriter candente acu satis est, ut leviter eius orae exulcerentur.
Treating of trichiasis he says (VII. vii. 8):
Si pili nati sunt qui non debuerunt tenuis acus ferrea, ad similitudinem spathae lata, in ignem coniicienda est; deinde candens, sublata, palpebra sic ut eius perniciosi pili in conspectum curantis veniant, sub ipsis pilorum radicibus ab angulo immittenda est, ut ea tertiam partem palpebrae transsuat; deinde iterum, tertioque usque ad alterum angulum; quo fit ut omnes pilorum radices adustae emoriantur.
This indicates a needle beaten out into the shape of one of our spuds for removing foreign bodies from the eye. The needle handles from the find of the oculist Severus are well adapted for this work, but are dealt with elsewhere (p. 69).
Cautery guarded by a Tube.
In the treatise on haemorrhoids (iii. 345) Hippocrates says:
‘We must make a [tubular] cautery like a writing reed and fit it to a well-fitting iron’ (καυτῆρα χρὴ ποιήσασθαι οἷον καλαμίσκον φραγμίτην, σιδήριον δὲ ἐναρμόσαι καλῶς ἁρμόζον).
Again, in the treatment of polypus of the nose, he says:
‘When that occurs we must insert a tube and cauterize with three or four irons’(ὅταν οὕτως ἔχῃ, ἐνθέντα χρὴ σύριγγα καῦσαι σιδηρίοισιν ἢ τριοσὶν ἢ τέσσαρσιν) (ii. 244).