On Medicine (De Medicina), Vol. 2

xii

INTRODUCTION

the simplest means, tepid water with salt, mustard, honey or hyssop, or a radish; ^a pills, pastils and draughts were prescribed for the relief of pain, cough and bladder trouble, and to induce sleep. ^b The “ antidotes ” were a class of remedy held in high esteem; Celsus said they were not often used, but were important because of the help they gave in the gravest cases. He gave the prescriptions for three; they are mildly stimulant mixtures chiefly characterised by the very large number of their ingredients; it is difficult to see what value they can have had beyond a slightly tonic effect. ^c

EXTERNAL REMEDIES

It is noteworthy what great importance Celsus attached to tannin in local applications. This substance, now generally recognised as a useful immediate application for burns and scalds, was the chief effective constituent in many of the substances included in his prescriptions.

In addition to the plasters, poultices and other applications whose use is sufficiently explained in the text itself, one large class of remedies may be grouped under the modern term antiseptics, though no general name is applied to them by Celsus. ^d These substances have the general characteristics of opposing the growth of micro-organisms in wounds and of promoting a free discharge, they include the essential oils, especially rose oil (obtained by steeping the petals in cold water, and keeping them in the cold air till the oil rose to the top and was skimmed off).

^a 1. 3. 22.       ^b V. 24, 25.       ^c V. 23.
^d There were many others, see Galen on Antidotes, a work devoted to such medicines (vol. XIV, of Kühn’s edition).