Some Roman medicine.

SOME ROMAN MEDICINE IT HAS long been recognized that in the Roman Empire great advances were made in medical knowledge, and that the best organized medical system in the ancient world was that of the Roman armed forces." Recent work has provided interesting examples of Roman medicine as used by the army. For some time it has been known that some of the medicines and medical preparations prescribed by Celsus in his book 'On Medicine' (De Medicina) are chemically basically similar to modem ones. To promote discharge and clear a wound of sepsis, chamomile (pyrethrum or herba salivaris) was used for its volatile oil and tannin; as cleansers auripigmentwn, which is golden trisulphide of arsenic, and sandaraca, which is red disulphide of arsenic; other preparations include thymol (thymnum), which is akin to the phenol or carbolic acid that Lister used, knotgrass (polygonum or herba sanguinalis), rich in tannin and gallic acid, and silphium (ammoniacwn), containing salicylic acid and a volatile oil. Other preparations were made from other sources; oxide of copper (squama aeris) was manufactured and used for cleansing wounds and clearing up ulcerations; papyrus was burnt and the resulting ashes, or caustic potash and soda, used as an erodent and caustic.' New finds confirm the high degree of medical and pharmaceutical knowledge. The most important discoveries were made in the legionary hospital (valetudinarium) at Neuss (Novaesium), and are dated to the middle ofthe first century A.D." Excavation in the early part of the present century revealed the details of the valetudinarium with its wards, reception-hall, operating theatre, medical and surgical instruments, and the hearths to sterilize them, as well as evidence for a special sick diet including eggs, oysters, and meat. Scientific analysis of plant remains discovered in excavation after the war in some of the wards shows the existence of at least four medicinal plants. Their uses can be found in the medical and pharmaceutical works of Pliny, Dioscorides, Hippocrates, and Celsus. Between one and two hundred examples of centaury (Centauriuw umbellatwn Gilib) were discovered. The ancient pharmacopoeias recommended its use for healing wounds, curing eye ailmens, and pounded up and taken in wine as an antidote to snake-bite, or it could be applied in powdered form to the bite. Its value was also known in the Middle Ages, and nowadays it is popular with herbalists and is still sold in chemists' shops.