pulse (lentil seed), while an instrument used in scraping should be set with an edge half as thin as that of the former. An instrument used either in connection with the measures of secretion or cutting by uplifting (Vyadhanam) should be set with an edge as fine as the human hair, while an instrument of incision should have an edge half as thin as that of the former.
Surgical instruments should be tempered with one of the three substances such as, alkali, water, and oil. Instruments used in cutting an arrow, a bone, or any foreign matter (Shalyam)) pricked into the human body, should be tempered with alkali, whereas those that are made use of in cutting, cleaving, and lopping off the flesh from an affected part), should be tempered with water. Instruments used in opening (Vyadhanam) a vein (Shira) or in cutting open a nerve Snayu should be tempered with oil, and should be whetted upon a species of stone-slab resembling a Masha pulse in colour, and their set-edge should be protected by putting it in a sheath made of Shalmali wood.
Authoritative verses on the subject:—An instrument, well-ground, well-shaped, fitted with a convenient handle and capable of (laterally) cutting a hair in two and made according to measures laid down in the Shastras, should be alone used in a surgical operation.
