Lollipop handles & olive tips
This is a boxed set of sounds designed by Lord Lister.
They have a characteristic "lollipop" handle and "olive" tips. The rounded olive tip was felt to be safer to use when probing urethral strictures, being less likely thatn a blunt-ended sound to cause a false passage.
This set is incomplete but, in the bottom slot, is a "stone searcher". The stone searcher has a completely different curve and is a true "sound".
What we normally refer to as sounds are actually urethral probes or dilators; a sound is actually a solid instrument inserted into the bladder to make a noise (or "sound") when it touches a stone, hence confirming the diagnosis of a bladder stone.
Click on the instrument image to view an enlarged version
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