INTROUUCTION 



without making a noise and gasjjing, asthma ; but 

 when in addition the patient can hardly draw in his 

 breath unless with the neck outstretched. ortho- 

 pnoea." — IV. 8, I. 



(c) " Whilst this kind of disease involves the region 

 of the neck as a whole, another equally fatal and 

 acute has its seat in the throat. We call it angina ; 

 the Greeks have names according to its species. 

 For sometimes no redness or swelling is apparent, 

 but the skin is dry, and breath drawn with difficulty, 

 the limbs relaxed ; this thev call svnanche. Some- 

 times the tongue and throat are red and swollen, the 

 voice becomes indistinct. the eyes are deviated, the 

 face is pallid, there is hiccough ; that they call 

 cvnanche : the signs in common are, that the patient 

 cannot swallow nor drink, and his breathing is 

 obstructed." — IV. 7, 1. 



According to Jans Jndex, opisthotanus occurs in 

 Phny 24 times. ietanus 9 times, and emprosthotonus 

 not at all. According to the same Index, dyspnoea is 

 mentioned 4 times, asthma twice, orthopnoea 28 times, 

 and suspiriosi (not apparently in Celsus) 34 times. 



The first reaction of a reader is to infer that Pliny 

 was lax in his use of these terms, as Celsus says some 

 people were in their use of the terms for the various 

 forms of tetanus. But Piiny is not an original 

 authority ; he is merely a note-taker, borrowing his 

 technical terms from other writers, whether Greek 

 or Roman. The laxity (if laxity there is) is not 

 P]iny's, but that of his sources. It is possible that 

 suspiriosus is a word which was in general use, and 

 not a technical term of the physicians. With the 

 Latin text before his eyes, the reader should not be 



