Mirror

"These three tongue depressors are in good condition. All three are similar in form, but have varied handle designs. Example (a) has a flat rounded disc beveled on the upper edge. The shaft has a diamond-shaped section, and it terminated with a pinecone finial articulated only on the upperside. The disc shape of example (b) is identical to (a), but with an unbeveled edge. The shaft is rounded on the front, and decorated with incised lines, horizontal near the bowl, oblique above, and herringbone just below the finial. The back of the shaft is flat and undecorated. The finial is in the form of a bust. The handle section of (c) is of the baluster type terminated with a kob finial incised with torqued oblique lines. The disc is rounded and slightly beveled on the upper edge.

Surgeons used tongue depressors to control the tongue when lancing an abcess, sectioning the frenulum, or excising tonsils. They could also be utilized as cauteries to arrest hemorrhages, remove tumors, and sterilize wounds and lesions. Some examples with the disc burnished to a high polish suggest they may have functioned as small mirrors.

A similar instrument is illustrated in Milne, p. 79, pl. XX, no. 6 (after Vedrenes)." -Eunice Dauterman Maguire, Henry Maguire and Maggie J. Duncan-Flowers, Art and Holy Powers in the Early Christian House (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1989), 206.

Maguire, Eunice Dauterman, Henry Maguire and Maggie J. Duncan-Flowers. Art and Holy Powers in the Early Christian House. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1989.