Aulus Cornelius Celsus

Aulus Cornelius Celsus compiled an encyclopedia around the turn of the first century, covering agriculture, law, rhetoric, military arts, and medicine — only the medical section, De Medicina, made it through the fall of Rome. The eight books became a primary source on Roman medical knowledge: pharmacy, diet, surgery, the mechanics of treatment. He classified skin disorders precisely enough that conditions like myrmecia still carry his terminology, and dermatology terms like kerion celsi and area celsi preserve his eye for detail. Fifteen centuries later, a Swiss physician read him and took the…