Of Medicine, in Eight BooksCelsus, Aulus Cornelius
History
Of Medicine, in Eight Books
Celsus, Aulus Cornelius
Medicine, Greek and Roman
If the food does not stay upon the stomach, water is to be drunk, and
a plentiful vomiting procured; and food must be given a second time,
and then cucurbitals are to be applied two fingers breadth below the
stomach, and kept there for two or three hours. If there is both a
vomiting and pain at the same time, sordid wool, or sponge dipped in
vinegar, or a cooling cataplasm, must be applied to the stomach. The
arms and legs must be rubbed briskly, but not long, and heated.
If the pain is more severe, the cupping must be performed four fingers
below the præcordia; bread dipped in cold vinegar and water must be
given immediately; if it has not staid, then after the vomiting,
some light thing not ungrateful to the stomach; if even that is not
retained, a cyathus of wine every hour, till the stomach be settled.
The juice of radishes is also a powerful medicine; but a stronger is
the juice of the acid pomegranate, with an equal quantity of the juice
of the sweet pomegranate, and an addition also of the juice of endive
and mint, but the least proportion of this; with which it is very
proper to mix as much cold water, as equals the quantity of them all
together. For that is more efficacious for composing the stomach than
wine. A vomiting, which comes of itself, is to be stopped, although
there be a nausea.
But if the food has grown sour or putrid within the stomach, both which
accidents are known by the eructations, it must be evacuated; and the
stomach must be immediately recruited by taking the same kind of food,
that I have just mentioned. When the present danger is removed, we must
return to those things which have been prescribed before.
CHAP. VI.
OF PAINS OF THE SIDES, AND THEIR CURE.
The stomach is surrounded by the sides; and in these there happen
sometimes violent pains. They arise either from cold, or a blow,
or from excessive running, or from a distemper. But sometimes the
disorder goes no farther than a pain; which is sometimes slowly, and
sometimes quickly removed. At other times it grows extremely dangerous;
and there arises an acute distemper, which by the Greeks is called
pleuriticus[CT]. To this pain of the side is added a fever and cough:
and by the last is expectorated, if the distemper be tolerable phlegm;
if severe, blood. Sometimes also the cough is dry, and brings up
nothing, and this is worse than the first, but more tolerable than the
second.
[CT] πλευριτικὸς. Our author uses here the masculine adjective to
the Latin word _morbus_.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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