Spatula

SPATULA (German Spatel, from Latin spatula—little blade), a blade-shaped instrument used in various branches of medical practice. Spatulas can be metallic (made of platinum, silver, steel, iron), horn, tortoiseshell, glass, and wood. The material from which they are made, as well as the details of their shape, depends on the purpose for which they are used. In clinical practice, spatulas are most commonly used for depressing the tongue to the floor of the mouth during examination of the fauces, or for retracting the cheeks and lips to the sides during examination of the oral cavity. For this purpose, metal or wooden spatulas are usually employed, having the shape of a narrow, long plate with slightly rounded edges (Figures 1 and 2); wooden spatulas are more convenient because they can be destroyed after use (best of all by burning them), while metal spatulas must be thoroughly disinfected after use. In addition, spatulas are used in surgery during certain operations, for example, on the kidneys and bladder (Tuffier's straight spatula, Figure 3; simple, Figure 4, or fenestrated, Figure 5—Israeli's spatula), on the intestine (Mikulicz's spatula, Figure 6), in hernia repair (Tansini's angled spatula, Figure 7), and then in ophthalmological (Wecker's, Figure 8; Kryukov's, Figure 9; Hunzinger's, Figure 10; Ottava's, Figure 11), otorhinolaryngological (Thiersch's, Figure 12; Freer's, Figure 13; Jansen's, Figure 14), and dental practice (Figures 15 and 16). In bacteriological and histological laboratories, spatulas are used for retrieving sections or other materials to be examined from solutions; for this purpose, thin metal or glass spatulas bent at an obtuse angle and easily sterilized in a burner flame are usually employed. In pharmacy, spatulas are used mainly for spreading plasters and dispensing ointments; for this purpose, metal spatulas are more frequently used, and horn spatulas less frequently, having the shape of more or less wide single- or double-sided blades of various sizes (Figures 17, 18, 19, 20).

§

/

SPIEGELBERG, Otto (1830–1881), a prominent German obstetrician of the 19th century. He received his medical education in Göttingen, specializing in Berlin, Vienna, Prague, and England. In 1858, he published a textbook on obstetrics that brought him into the front ranks of specialists of that time (Russian translation: Rukovodstvo k akusherstvu, Kazan, 1861). Spiegelberg was a professor in Freiburg, Königsberg, and Breslau. In 1870, Spiegelberg, together with Credé, founded the journal Archiv für Gynäkologie, which exists to this day. Shortly before his death, he released a second, expanded edition of his textbook, by which several generations of physicians learned obstetrics.