On Medicine (De Medicina), Vol. 2

INTRODUCTION

Book V, Chapters 1–25, contains a list of drugs and prescriptions.^a Celsus does not classify the ingredients as organic or inorganic, but he first gives a list of substances classified according to their effect on the body (styptics, agglutinants for wounds, substances to repress or mature suppuration, to cleanse wounds, induce healing, relieve irritation and encourage the growth of new flesh, caustics of varying strengths, and emollients), and then passes on to give the prescriptions for poultices, plasters, pastils, pessaries, dusting powders, ointments, gargles, antidotes, anodynes, liniments, draughts and pills.

In his prescriptions Celsus gives quantities, which have been reduced to modern measures,^b but as we have no means of ascertaining the standard strength of the preparations which he used, it is impossible to dispense his prescriptions or compare them with those in use to-day.

The internal remedies prescribed by Celsus were chiefly foods or drink (alimenta nourishments/foodstuffs), and he gives details of their use and effect on the body in Book II.

^a A few additional prescriptions occur in the description of treatment in Books VI and VII; in Books I–IV, although many foodstuffs or drugs are recommended for use in various diseases, no instructions for compounding are given.
^b See below, pp. lxv–lxvii.