Aulus Cornelius Celsus - Quotes

Roman writer. He compiled an encyclopedia on medicine, rhetoric, history, philosophy, war, and agriculture. Apart from a few fragments of the other sections the only extant portion of the work is the De Medicina, one of the first medical works to be printed (1478).

Aulus Cornelius Celsus (25 BC—50) was a Roman encyclopedist and possibly, although probably not, a physician.

In the "Prooemium" or introduction to "De Medicina" there is an early discussion of the relevance of theory to medical practice and the pros and cons of both animal experimentation and human experimentation.

Celsus is credited with recording the cardinal signs of inflammation: calor (warmth), dolor (pain), tumor (swelling) and rubor (redness and hyperaemia). In addition, he describes many 1st century Roman surgical procedures which included removal of a cataract, treatment for bladder stones, and the setting of fractures.

Celsus' work was rediscovered by Pope Nicholas V and published in 1478.

Quotes

"It is not cruel to inflict on a few criminals sufferings which may benefit multitudes of innocent people through all centuries."