SCIENCE OF THE ROMAN PERIOD 



danger from the malady was past. Special laws were 

 enacted to protect them, and any person subjecting 

 them to an insult was liable to a fine " not exceeding 

 one thousand pounds." 



An example of Roman practicality is shown in the 

 method of treating hemorrhage, as described by Aulus 

 Cornelius Celsus (53 B.C. to 7 A.D.). Hippocrates and 

 Hippocratic writers treated hemorrhage by applica- 

 tion of cold, pressure, styptics, and sometimes by actual 

 cauterizing; but they knew nothing of the simple 

 method of stopping a hemorrhage by a ligature tied 

 around the bleeding vessel. Celsus not only recom- 

 mended tying the end of the injured vessel, but de- 

 scribes the method of applying two ligatures before 

 the artery is divided by the surgeon a common prac- 

 tice among surgeons at the present time. The cut is 

 made between these two, and thus hemorrhage is 

 avoided from either end of the divided vessel. 



Another Roman surgeon, Heliodorus, not only de- 

 scribes the use of the ligature in stopping hemorrhage, 

 but also the practice of torsion twisting smaller ves- 

 sels, which causes their lining membrane to contract in 

 a manner that produces coagulation and stops hemor- 

 rhage. It is remarkable that so simple and practical a 

 method as the use of the ligature in stopping hemor- 

 rhage could have gone out of use, once it had been dis- 

 covered; but during the Middle Ages it was almost 

 entirely lost sight of, and was not reintroduced until 

 the time of Ambroise Par 6, in the sixteenth century. 



Even at a very early period the Romans recognized 

 the advantage of surgical methods on the field of 

 battle. Each soldier was supplied with bandages, 



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