title: One hundred years ago: the physician magician Blakesley presented his ethmoid forceps.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The Blakesley fenestrated ethmoid forceps, eponymously named after Theodore Seward Blakesley, belong today in every set of endonasal surgical instruments. This study aimed to go back to Blakesley's original description, and to follow its introduction, variations and acceptation by rhinosurgeons.
  
  
  METHODS
  Historical review of literature.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In 1915, Blakesley described two nasal instruments: a submucous septum resection instrument and an ethmoid instrument. The history of the ethmoid instrument is in close relationship to another quite similar one described by Moriz Weil. The difference between the Weil and the Blakesley ethmoid forceps lies essentially in the base of the cutting jaws, which are narrower in Weil's instrument.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Blakesley's eponym must only be used for the instrument without the narrower base of the cutting jaws.
authors.affiliation: Department of Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery,Stanford University School of Medicine,California,USA.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Mudry
authors.affiliation: Independent contributor,Hannover,Germany.
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Lübbers
authors.affiliation: Department of Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery,Ulm University,Germany.
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Pirsig
mesh_terms: D005005:Ethmoid Sinus / Q000601:surgery*; D049672:History, 19th Century; D049673:History, 20th Century; D010036:Otolaryngology / Q000266:history*; D013525:Surgical Instruments / Q000266:history*
keywords: Blakesley; Ethmoid Forceps; History; Rhinology; Weil