[9.] Indeed may be opened.) The text in Almeloveen and Linden runs thus, Nam ne uterum quidem ut nihilominus aerem contineat, &c. The particle ne is not in the older copies or the MS. of Morgagni[ IE ], and as it spoils the sense, I have omitted it. The same older copies read qui minus ad rem pertineat, instead of ut nihilominus aerem contineat; but as the first can bear no sense at all in this place, and the other has not the elegance of Celsus, I have taken no notice of either; and as the connection is perfect without any addition, I suspect both to have crept in from the margin.
[10.] Praecordia.) This word frequently occurs in Celsus; and he seems to use it in two senses: 1st, For the cavity of the thorax, as lib. 4. c. 1. At sub corde atque pulmone transversum ex valida membrana est septum, quod è praecordiis uterum diducit. 2dly, For the hypochondria; for which see several passages in the first eight chapters of the second book, where he considers the symptoms of distempers from the external appearance of the præcordia; by which word, in those passages, he translates the Greek term ὑποχονδρίον in Hippocrates; the derivation of which demonstrates it to be below the Cartilago Xiphoides.
[11.] Quantity of flesh.) I shall not trouble the reader with several various and opposite opinions of this case, by different commentators; it will be sufficient to recite the opinion of Morgagni[ IF ] (which appears the only probable one) and the reasons with which he supports it. In his anatomical lectures he explained it as an inverted uterus, which he says resembles nothing more than flesh, and is quickly seized with a gangrene, for the reasons given by Ruysch. Observ. Anat. Chir. 10. and thus[ IG ] Celsus, in the description of a gangrene, mentions siccam et aridam carnem; and Boerhaave says, an inverted uterus is seized with a gangrene in three hours after its inversion, which agrees with intra paueas horas in this place.——The ingenious author, first mentioned, confirms this explanation by a case that occurred to a surgeon, who, struck with the novelty of it, came immediately to ask his opinion: upon his shewing the surgeon Ruysch’s delineation of an inverted uterus, he confessed it to be perfectly similar.——Morgagni advised him to run back and replace it immediately, which he did in an hour after its inversion, and the lady was cured.
[12.] Nervus.) Though it might be doubted, whether the ancients comprehended under this word, what is now properly called a nerve, yet, it is certain they used it for a tendon, or ligament; which so evidently appears in many passages of Celsus, particularly the eighth book, that it is quite superfluous to instance any single example. And this is agreeable to the signification of the Greek word νευ̃ρον, a chord or string; and thus Hippocrates says, “The nerves are dry and void of any cavity, and grow to the bone, and have most of their nourishment from thence; they are nourished also from the flesh, and their colour and strength is in a middle degree between bone and flesh.” Hippocrat. Opera, sect. 4: lib. de loc. in homin. p. 409. ad finem. That I might not seem to determine, what may be thought doubtful, I have generally retained the author’s term nerve, and left the application to the reader’s judgment; but in some places, particularly in the eighth book, where the meaning was very evident, and the word νευ̃ρονnerve would have been harsh to an English reader, I have rendered it tendon, or ligament, as the connection appeared to require.
[13.] Another loose.) The word in the original is fluens, that is a disorder attended with some discharge.
[14.] Our author means here the ἀχμὴ of a disease, after which it increases no more.
[15.] A dinner also.) Mercurialis conjectures that the custom among the Romans of making but one set meal in the day, arose from their spending so much time in cleaning their bodies, and going through the several processes at the baths, that they had hardly time left even for one meal; considering that besides all these operations, they had each his own private business to transact, and their bathing was too sacred to be omitted. Hieron. Mercurial. de Art. Gymnast. lib. i. cap. 11.
[16.] Iatroalipta.) This is a Greek word, and signifies a physician that anoints. There was always one or more of these attending a gymnasium, to whose province belonged every thing that related to unction. To their care was committed the strength and complexion of the body; thus Cicero in an epistle to Lentulus, says, Sed vellem non solum salutis meae, quemadmodum medici, sed etiam ut aliptae, virium et coloris rationem babere voluissent. It is probable, that at their first institution, they were acquainted with the nature and effects of their operations on human bodies; and according to Plato, de Legibus, lib. xi. they were either physicians, or in many things equal to them. But Galen complains, that in his time they were ignorant. For a more particular account, see Mercurial. de Art. Gymnast. lib. i. cap. 12.
[17.] Sometimes the warm bath, &c.) No practice was ever more universally followed, than that of bathing among the ancients. The first design of it was certainly the preservation of health; but, as riches and luxury increased among both Greeks and Romans, the edifices for this purpose grew proportionably more elegant and sumptuous. The construction of baths and their several appurtenances must have been so well known, when in use, that it is not to be wondered we have so imperfect accounts of them transmitted to us. Without entering into any of the disputes about the form or use of several of their parts, I shall subjoin what seems to be generally agreed to by all, and may serve to explain any passages in our author which have relation to them.
In the baths there were five apartments—One, called Tepidarium, was a room close all round, and rendered tepid by dry vapours from a fire. Persons staid here so long as to rarify their humours, that they might not go unprepared into the hotter rooms. The Calidarium, or Laconicum, was in all things similar to the foregoing, only the heat was greater. Some affirm, that in both these apartments there were vessels of water, of the same temperature with their air. Next followed the Solium, where was the hot bath. People sat here, sometimes, without going into the bath, and had water poured over them, as Celsus in several places prescribes. The Baptisterium, or Piscina, was the receptacle for cold water, for bathing and swimming in. There was also an apartment called Frigidarium, concerning which there is a dispute, whether it contained water or not; Mercurialis says, ‘Some have imagined there was water here for those who were fond of swimming; but there is no mention of water in authors.’—He adds, ‘that it was contrived for those that came immediately from the Tepidarium and Calidarium, and wanted to enjoy a cool air.’ Pliny[ IH ] the younger mentions a Frigidarium in a bath at his villa, where there was water for swimming in; but this may have been a new mode, and not known in Celsus’s time. Whether this apartment contained water or not, I shall not determine; but it would appear from authors, that either the air or water here was of a mild temperature, not quite cold, nor yet so warm as the Tepidarium. To[ II ] these several parts were subservient; the Aquarium, in which a large reservoir was built for holding water brought from the aqueducts and elsewhere.—The Vasarium, where the necessary vessels were placed, and where the water was heated; this stood above the Hypocaustum, or stove.