On Medicine (De Medicina), Vol. 2

viii

INTRODUCTION

chapter 18 ff.,^a but when the medicamenta medicines proper are described in Book V it is noteworthy that very few are for internal use, and that nearly all are for external application. In the same way in the treatments described in Books I and II, much more attention is given to massage, rocking and remedial exercise ^b than to internal treatment by the purge and vomit, as to the value of which Celsus was very doubtful.^c

The preference for external remedies was perhaps due to the limited use of dissection, which resulted in a very imperfect knowledge of anatomy and internal conditions, so that Celsus and his contemporaries inclined to prescribe remedies, the results of which could be seen. While in Egypt the practice of embalming had early made men familiar with internal anatomy and the Alexandrian surgeons used dissection of dead bodies and vivisection for purposes of study and investigation,^d both methods were strongly condemned by the Empiric school, to whose views Celsus attaches great weight,^e and evidently became gradually discredited, for when Galen studied at Alexandria in A.D. 152–157, he had no opportunity of studying human anatomy or morbid conditions by means of dissection. The prejudice against this con-

^a See also vol. I, p. 483 ff. for a list of alimenta nourishments/foodstuffs. Alimenta and medicamenta overlapped to some extent and several of the former (e.g. honey, mustard) were ingredients or prescriptions for external use.
^b These formed a very important part of medicine from the earliest times; the use of remedial exercises as a treatment is said to have been introduced by Herodicus, the teacher of Hippocrates.
^c Vol. I, Pro. 28 ff.
^d Celsus relates that the Ptolemies gave Herophilus and Erasistratus the bodies of criminals to vivisect (Pro. 23, 24).
^e Pro. 27 ff. The school was founded by Philinus.