Hemostat

[1] Similar in design to both pliers and scissors, it is used to clamp exposed blood vessels shut.

Often in the first phases of surgery, the incision is lined with hemostats on blood vessels that are awaiting ligation.

[2] The concept of clamping a bleeding vessel with an instrument before tying it off is generally attributed to Galen, in the second century A.D.

This method of hemostasis was largely forgotten until it was rediscovered by a French barber-surgeon, Ambroise Paré, in the 16th century.

He made the predecessor to the modern hemostat and called it the Bec de Corbin (crow's beak).