C E I, 



man ; but what was his situation in life, and whether 

 he practised any branch of medicine, or was only an 

 amateur in the art, has not been completely ascer- 

 tained. In many parts of his work De Medicina, 

 however, he appears to speak frequently from expe- 

 rience ; and it can scarcely be conceived, that such a 

 perfect knowledge of the art as he has displayed, 

 both concerning the most difficult operations of sur- 

 gery, as well as the nature and treatment of diseases, 

 could have been acquired without long practice and 

 application. After describing a particular method 

 of cure used by Heraclides in the adhesion of the 

 eye-lids, he adds, " Ego sic restitutum neminem me- 

 mini, (De Medicina, lib. viii. c. 7.) ; " I remember 

 of no person being cured in this way :" which ex- 

 pression evidently implies, that he himself had exer- 

 cised the profession, or otherwise he would not have 

 ventured to place his own experience against the suc- 

 cess of any cure recommended by others. Numerous 

 similar expressions may be adduced, equally strong, 

 in favour of the supposition that he practised the 

 medical art ; but Dr Grieve concludes, from a severe 

 censure (De Medicina, lib. iii. c. 4. ) which Celsus 

 has passed upon those physicians who often neglect 

 their patients by engaging in too extensive a practice, 

 that his practice was confined to his acquaintance 

 and friends, and that his fortune and generosity ren- 

 dered him superior to the view of living by the pro- 



f . T> L l . , J f 



fession. .But, whatever was his station in society, 

 his writings have recommended him to the admira- 

 tion of posterity. His treatise on medicine is often 

 quoted with approbation by our best writers on phy- 

 sic, and contains all that is most valuable in the 

 works of Hippocrates. According to Boerhaave, 

 indeed, it is to Celsus that we are indebted for the 

 opinions and true meaning of many parts in the writ- 

 ings of that father of physic, which would otherwise 

 have been unintelligible or misunderstood. But, in 

 addition to the extent and correctness of his medi- 

 cal knowledge, he is distinguished for the purity and 

 elegance of his latinity, which entitle him to be rank- 

 ed among the first writers of the Augustan age. 

 Celsus is said to have written treatises upon several 

 other subjects, particularly upon rhetoric and agri- 

 culture, but none of them have been handed down to 

 our times. The former is frequently quoted by 

 Cjuintilian, and, though he often differs from him in 

 opinion, yet he bears honourable testimony to his 

 learning and acquirements. When recommending to 

 orators to make themselves masters of all the sciences, 

 after mentioning Homer, Plato, Aristotle, Cato, 

 Varro, and Cicero, some of the greatest geniuses that 

 ever appeared, he adds, " Why should I name any 

 more instances ? when even Cornelius Celsus, a man 

 ef a moderate genius, has not only composed treatises 

 on all these arts, but has also left precepts of the mi- 

 litary art, agriculture, and medicine. The bare at- 

 tempt requires us to believe that he understood all 

 these subjects ; but to give perfection to so great a 

 work is a difficult task, to which no man has ever 

 been found equal," (lust. Oral, lib^xii. c. 11.) Co- 

 lumella, also, in his work De Re Rusiica, lib. ii. c. 2. 

 frequently mentions him with great respect, comparing 

 him with the best writers on husbandry, and repre- 

 sents him as o:.e who was " not only skilled in agri- 

 culture, but who took in the whole compass of na- 

 tural knovy ledge." His merit as an author is suffi. 



C E L 



ciently indicated by' the numerous editions through 

 which his work De Medicina has passed, and by the 

 high esteem in which it is still held. The best edi- 

 tion is supposed to be that of Almeloveen, which 

 was edited at Padua in 1722, by Vulpius ; and there 

 is a good English translation by Dr Grieve, publish- 

 ed in 1756. See Le Clerc Hist, de Med. ; and 

 Friends' Hist, of Physic. (_/>) 



CELTIS, a genus of plants of the class Polyga- 

 mia, and order Monascia. See BOTANY, p. 343. 



CELTS, an ancient people inhabiting, according 

 to the earliest historical notices, the western parts of 

 Europe. 



It appears now to be generally admitted, that the 

 Celts were a peculiar people, distinguished by many 

 remarkable particulars from the Scythians or Goths, 

 with whom they have been often confounded. The 

 distinction, however, between the nations alluded to, 

 has not been admitted without a full and elaborate 

 discussion of the subject. Many learned authors 

 have contended for their identity ; all antiquity has 

 been explored by the writers on opposite sides ; and, 

 upon a question which surely might have been dis- 

 cussed with a due attention to good manners, much 

 bitterness and insolence have been shewn. Among 

 those who have contended for the identity of the 

 Celts and Goths, a principal place must be assigned 

 to Cluverius and Pelloutier ; and likewise, though he 

 contends for nothing more than an identity of origin,, 

 to the late Sir William Jones : while, of all the cham- 

 pions for their diversity, Mr Pinkerton, aided by a 

 profound and acute writer in the second volume of 

 the Edinburgh Review, is by far the most formidable. 

 The points supposed to be established by Mr Pin- 

 kerton and the learned critic, are the following : 

 1. At a period, probably as early as the year 1400 

 A. C. the Scythians had pushed themselves from the 

 vicinity of the river Araxis, westwards and north- 

 wards, over a considerable part of Europe. 2. The 

 Scythians were afterwards mentioned in history un- 

 der the names of Getae, Gothi, and Germani ; but 

 whether distinguished by these names, or by the 

 more comprehensive appellation of Scythas, the 

 people thus distinguished were one and the same. 

 3> With regard to the Celts, the earliest notices 

 would lead us to place them about the year 

 500 A. C. in the neighbourhood of the Pyre- 

 nees, whence they were driven by the Germans or 

 Goths on the east, and the Aquitani, probably an 

 Iberian race, on the south, into that part of Gaul 

 where they were found in the time of Caesar. 4.. 

 That the inhabitants of the Highlands of Scotland, 

 and the Welsh, together with some of the Irish tribes, 

 are the remains now existing of the ancient Celts. 

 5.. That when the Greek and Roman authors use 

 the words K/]#< and rAl*, Celtas and Galli, they 

 often refer exclusively to the Belgic Gauls, (see the 

 mass of authorities quoted in the Edinburgh Review, 

 vol. ii. p. 365, art. Vindication of the Celts.) 6.. 

 That though this is frequently the case, the distinc- 

 tion is sometimes accurately made between the Bel- 

 gic Gauls and the Celtic ; as in the introduction to 

 the first book of Caesar's Commentaries, where the 

 Belgae are represented as inhabiting one part of Gaul, 

 the Aquitani another, and the Celtae a third ; and in 

 the language with which the account of the Druids, 

 given by the same author, commencea, In omni 



Celtis, 

 Celts. 



