Aulus Cornelius Celsus | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | c. 25 BC |
| Died | c. 50 AD (aged roughly 75) |
| Occupation | Encyclopaedist |
Aulus Cornelius Celsus (c. 25 BC –c. 50 AD) was aRoman encyclopaedist, known for hisextant medical work,De Medicina, which is believed to be the only surviving section of a much largerencyclopedia. TheDe Medicina is a primary source ondiet,pharmacy,surgery and related fields, and it is one of the best sources concerning medical knowledge in the Roman world. The lost portions of his encyclopedia likely included volumes on agriculture, law,rhetoric, and military arts. He made contributions to the classification of human skin disorders indermatology, such asmyrmecia, and his name is often found in medical terminology regarding the skin, e.g.,kerion celsi andarea celsi.[1] He is also the namesake ofParacelsus (lit. Above Celsus), a greatSwiss alchemist and physician prevalent in theMedical Renaissance.
Nothing is known about the life of Celsus. Even hispraenomen is uncertain; he has been called both Aurelius and Aulus, with the latter being more plausible.[2] Some incidental expressions in hisDe Medicina suggest that he lived under the reigns ofAugustus andTiberius; which is confirmed by his reference to the Greek physicianThemison as being recently in his old age.[3]
It is not known with any certainty where he lived. He has been identified as the possible dedicator of a gravestone inRome, but it has also been supposed that he lived inNarbonese Gaul, because he refers to a species ofvine (marcum) which, according toPliny,[4] was native to that region.[5]
It is doubtful whether he practised medicine himself, and although Celsus seems to describe and recommend his own medical observations sanctioned by experience,Quintilian says that his volumes included all sorts of literary matters, and evenagriculture andmilitary tactics.[6]
Of the numerous volumes of his encyclopedia published before 47 CE, only one remains intact, his celebrated treatiseOn Medicine (De Medicina). "The work's encyclopedic arrangement follows the tripartite division of medicine at the time as established byHippocrates andAsclepiades — diet,pharmacology, andsurgery."[7] It is divided into eight books.
In the "Prooemium" or introduction toDe Medicina there is an early discussion of the relevance of theory to medical practice and the pros and cons of bothanimal experimentation andhuman experimentation. Celsus discusses, for example, the case ofHerophilos andErasistratos, who he asserts practisedvivisection.[9]
In the treatment of disease, Celsus's principal method was to observe and watch over the operations ofNature, and to regulate rather than oppose them, conceiving that fever consisted essentially in an effort of the body to throw off some morbid cause, and that, if not unduly interfered with, the process would terminate in a state of health. On occasions, however, he boldly recommends the use of thescalpel; his rules forblood letting andpurgatives are laid down with detail and precision;[10] and many of the rules he prescribes were not very different from those still in use at the beginning of the 19th century.
His work contains detailed descriptions of the symptoms and different varieties offever,[11] and he is credited with recording thecardinal signs ofinflammation known as "Celsus tetrad of inflammation":calor (warmth),dolor (pain),tumor (swelling) andrubor (redness andhyperaemia).
He goes into great detail regarding the preparation of numerous ancient medicinal remedies including the preparation ofopioids. In addition, he describes many 1st century Roman surgical procedures which included removal of acataract, treatment forbladder stones, and the setting offractures.
Celsus wrote on the anatomy of theeye and was the first to call one of its layers thechoroid.[12] During the twentieth century, many historians claimed that Celsus believed that the crystalline lens is in the exact center of the eye. In fact, Celsus made no specific statement about the position of the crystalline lens, and his Graeco-Roman contemporaries did understand that the lens is located to the front.[13]
Hippocrates used the Greek word καρκίνος,karkínos 'crab, crayfish' to refer to malignant tumors as carcinomas. It was Celsus who translated the Greek term into the Latincancer, also meaning 'crab'.
The first printed edition of Celsus' work was published in 1478. His style has been much admired as being equal in purity and elegance to that of the best writers of the Augustan age.
Also, Celsus wrote a technical work on agriculture, on whichColumella partly based hisDe Re Rustica.
