The Art and Science of Healing: From Antiquity to the Renaissance

The Art and Science of Healing: From Antiquity to the RenaissanceThe Art and Science of Healing: From Antiquity to the Renaissance

Ear Probes

Ear probes

Ear probes Bronze 92 x 4 mm; 103 x 5 mm Roman Period Rome Francis W. Kelsey, 1901. KM 21479, KM 21498

Ear probes

Ear probe Bronze 65 x 5 mm Roman Period Karanis, Egypt University of Michigan Excavations, 1935. KM 21391

Ear probe Bronze 65 x 6 mm Roman Period Rome Francis W. Kelsey, 1901. KM 21501

Ear probes were instruments with very thin handles terminating in a blunt point at one end, while the other terminated in a small, flat, slanted, circular head. They were dipped in resin and might have been used to remove foreign bodies from the ear. Celsus also describes their application to remove maggots:

When maggots have appeared, if they are near the surface, they must be extracted by an ear scoop; if further in they must be killed by medicaments, and afterwards care taken that they do not breed.

Listen to the translation: