Surgical Instruments in Greek and Roman Times

by John Stewart Milne

Blacksmith’s Tongs.

Latin, vulsella quali fabri utuntur.

For replacing a protruding bone in a case of compound fracture Celsus (VIII. x) says that a forceps such as smiths use may be employed:

Tum ipsum recondendum est; ac, si id manus facere non potest, vulsella quali fabri utuntur iniicienda est, recte se habenti capiti ab ea parte qua sima est; ut ea parte qua gibba est eminens os in suam sedem compellat.

‘Then it is to be replaced, and if that cannot be done by hand the forceps such as smiths use is to be inserted, the head being kept straight by the snub-nosed part so that the curved part forces the bone into position.’

The blacksmith’s tongs is very frequently represented in ancient art. [Pl. XLII, fig. 2] shows a forceps from Roman London in the Guildhall Museum.

Tooth and Stump Forceps.

Greek, ὀδοντάγρα, ῥιζάγρα.

The ancients regarded tooth extraction as an operation to be avoided wherever possible. Caelius Aurelianus says death had followed in some cases, and that in the temple of Apollo at Delos there hung a tooth forceps of lead as a reminder for operators to exert little force in tooth extraction (Pass. Tard. II. iv). Scribonius Largus (Comp. liii) is equally pessimistic:

Ad dentium dolorem quamvis plurimi dicant forcipes remedium esse, multa tamen citra hanc necessitatem scio profuisse.