archiatri populares. The former attended the Emperor, and were court physicians; the latter attended the people. Although Nero appointed the first archiater, the name is not commonly used in Latin until the time of Constantine, and the division into two classes probably dates from about that time. The archiatri sancti palati were of high rank, and were the judges of disputes between physicians. The Archiatri had many privileges conferred upon them. They, and their wives and children, did not have to pay taxes. They were not obliged to give lodgings to soldiers in the provinces, and they could not be put in prison. These privileges applied more especially to the higher class. When an archiater sancti palati ceased attendance on the Emperor he took the title of ex-archiater. The title comes archiatorum means "count of the Archiatri," and gave rank among the high nobility of the Empire.

The archiatri populares attended the sick poor, and each city had five, seven or ten, according to its size. Rome had fourteen of these officers, besides one for the vestal virgins, and one for the gymnasia. They were paid by the Government for attending the poor, but were not restricted to this class of practice, and were well paid by their prosperous patients. Their office was more lucrative but not so honourable as that of the archiaters of the palace. The archiatri populares were elected by the people themselves.

Suetonius describes the treatment Nero underwent for the improvement of his voice: "He would lie upon his back with a sheet of lead upon his breast, clear his stomach and bowels by vomits and clysters, and forbear the eating of fruits, or food prejudicial to his voice." He built, at great expense, magnificent public baths supplied from the sea and from hot springs, and was the first to build a public gymnasium in Rome.

There is reason to believe that in the time of Nero there was a class of women poisoners. Nero employed one of these women, Locusta by name, and after she had poisoned Britannicus, rewarded her with a great estate in land, and placed disciples with her to be instructed in her nefarious trade.

There was also a very ignorant class of oculists in Rome in the time of Nero, but at Marseilles Demosthenes Philalethes was deservedly celebrated, and his book on diseases of the eye was in use for several centuries. The eye doctors of Rome employed ointments almost entirely, and about two hundred seals have been discovered which had been attached to pots of eye salves, each seal bearing the inventor's and proprietor's name. In the time of Galen, these quack oculists were very numerous, and Galen inveighs against them. Martial satirized them: "Now you are a gladiator who once were an ophthalmist; you did as a doctor what you do as a gladiator." "The bleareyed Hylas would have paid you sixpence, O

Quintus; one eye is gone, he will still pay threepence; make haste and take it, brief is your chance; when he is blind, he will pay you nothing." The oculists of Alexandria were very proficient, and some of their followers, at various times throughout the period of the Roman Empire, were remarkably skilful. Their literature has perished, but it is believed that they were able to operate on cataract.

With the death of Nero in A.D. 68, the direct line of the Cæsars became extinct.

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CHAPTER VII.

PHYSICIANS FROM THE TIME OF AUGUSTUS TO THE DEATH OF NERO.

Celsus-His life and works-His influence on MedicineMeges of Sidon-Apollonius of Tyana-Alleged miracles -Vettius Valleus-Scribonius Longus-AndromachusThessalus of Tralles-Pliny.

AULUS CORNELIUS CELSUS lived in the reigns of Augustus and Tiberius. References in his works show that he either lived at the same time as Themison or shortly after him. Verona has been claimed as his birthplace, but the purity of his literary style shows that he lived for a considerable time in Rome, and he was probably educated there. In Pliny's account of the history of medicine, Celsus is not mentioned as having practised in Rome, and it is almost certain that he combined the practice of medicine with the study of science and literary pursuits; his practice was not general, but restricted to his friends and dependents. His writings show that he had a clinical knowledge of disease and a considerable amount of medical experience. He wrote not only on medicine but also on history, philosophy, jurisprudence and rhetoric, agriculture and military tactics. His great medical work, "De Medicina," com

prises eight books.

He properly begins with the history of medicine, and then proceeds to discuss the merits of the controversy between the Dogmatici and the Empirici. The first two books deal with general principles and with diet, and the remaining books with particular diseases; the third and fourth with internal diseases, the fifth and sixth with external diseases and pharmacy, and the last two are surgical, and of great merit and importance. In his methods of treatment there can be discerned the influence of Asclepiades of Prusa, and the Hippocratic principle of aiding rather than opposing nature, but some of his work displays originality. His devotion to Hippocrates hindered very much the exercise of his own powers, and set a bad example, in this respect, to his

successors.

He was rather free in the use of the lancet, but not to the same extent as his contemporaries, and he advocated the use of free purgation as well as bleeding. He never could rid his mind of the orthodox humoral theories of his predecessors.

(1) Surgery. Although Celsus is the first writer in Rome to deal fully with surgical procedures, it must not be inferred that the practice of this art began to be developed in his time, for surgery was then much more advanced than medicine. Many major operations were performed, and it is very instructive for .doctors of the present day to learn that much that is considered modern was well