2 Words to use with probings

Should this preliminary probing demonstrate that neither of the fistulas run dangerously near the joint, then the operation may be decided on.

He to whom the faith of Agnes obliged her to lay open her whole soul, who had a right with probing-knife and lancet to dissect out all the finest nerves and fibres of her womanly nature, was a man who had been through all the wild and desolating experiences incident to a dissipated and irregular life in those turbulent days.

2 Words to use with  probings