Paul and Celsus describe a method of extracting foreign bodies from the ear by laying the patient on a board and striking the under side with a mallet. Paré mentions a hammer made of lead, and Fabricius describes one padded with leather, but neither of these is described by the ancients. There is, however, a Roman hammer of lead from the excavation at Uriconium in the Shrewsbury Museum.
Block.
Greek, ἐπίκοπον, a butcher’s block.
The ancients frequently amputated parts by placing them on a block and striking them with a chisel. The mediaeval surgeons amputated parts as large as the forearm in this way, but the Greeks all describe amputation by knife and saw. We have reference to the ‘block’ in Greek literature, however. In describing the plastic removal of a portion of the scrotum Paul (VI. lxvii) says:
‘Leonidas, laying the patient on his back, cuts off the redundant portion upon a chopping block of any kind of wood or stiff leather’ (κατ' ἐπικόπου σανιδίου τινὸς ἢ σκληροῦ δέρματος).
Galen uses the same word in the eighth book of his work on Practical Anatomy—apologizing somewhat for calling the article used by anatomists and surgeons by the undignified term of butcher’s block:
Χρώμενος ἐπικόπῳ, καλέσαι γὰρ οὕτως οὐδὲν χεῖρον ἔστιν ὁμοίως τοῖς ἀνατομικοῖς τε καὶ χειρουργοῖς τὸ στήριγμα τῶν ὑποβεβλημένων τῇ τομῇ τῶν σωμάτων (ii. 685).
Meningophylax.
Greek, μηνιγγοφύλαξ; Latin, membranae custos.
The meningophylax was a small plate, which was inserted under a bone which was being cut in order to protect underlying structures. ‘In cutting or sawing the bone,’ says Paul (VI. lxxvii), ‘when any vital parts are situated below, such as the pleura, spinal marrow, or the like, we must use the instrument called the meningophylax for protecting them (μηνιγγοφύλακα).’