CELSUS, AMES CORNELIUS, a Latin physician and writer, who flourished probably in the reign of Augustus. Ile was called the Roman Hippocrates, because he generally followed the great " father of medicine," and introduced the Hippocratic system among the Romans. C. wrote not only on medicine, but also on rhetoric, history, philosophy, the art of war, and agriculture. His style is succinct and clear, but full of Grteeisms. The only great work of his which survives, is the .De , which is divided into eight books. The portions relating to surgery are exceedingly interesting and valuable, because C. has there given an account of the opinions and observations of the Alexandrian school of medicine. The first edition of the De Medicimi appeared at Florence in 1478. C.'s works have been translated into several modern languages. A translation into English was made by Dr. Grieve, London, 1756. Among the best editions are those of Krause(Leip. 1766), Dr. Milligan's 2d edition (Edin. 1831), and one at Cologne. 1835.
CELT (Lat. calla, a chisel), the name by which certain weapons or implements of the early inhabitants of western Europe are known among arclueologists. Celts are either of stone or of bronze.
Stone celts vary in length from about 1 in. to 22 in.; but the most common size is from 6 to 8 in. in length, and from 2 to 31 in. in breadth. They are made of almost every kind of stone, and show considerable diversity of shape, almost all, however, having more or less resemblance to the muscle-shell. The ruder celts are generally of slate, shale, schist, or grit; the finer, of flint, porphyry, greenstone, syenite, or agate. Many of the finer celts are beautifully shaped and highly polished. A remarkable example of this class, the property of sir Contts Lindsay, found near St. Andrews, in Scotland, is described by sir David Brewster in the Philosophical Journal for 1823. Recently, a class of exits found in the later geological strata have excited much interest as well among archwologists as among geologists. They are obviously of the same type with the more common eelts, but of ruder construction, as if fashioned by a more barbarous people. The stone C. was fastened into a handle of horn, bone, or
wood. A C. of serpentine, with a handle of deerhorn, was found in one of the Swiss lakes in July, 1859, and a stone C. with a wooden handle, in the county of Tyrone, in Ireland.
Bronze celts vary in length from about 1 in. to 8 or 10 in., the most common length being about 6 inches. They are sometimes ornamented with rudely incised lines or circles, and have occasionally been found wrapped up in linen, or inclosed in bronze cases or sheaths. They show much greater diversity of shape than the stone celt. As many as four classes have been distinguished by arehteologists-1st, The simple wedge shaped C., most nearly resembling the common form of the stone cell 2d, The wedge shaped C. with sides more or less overlapping, and a stop ridge or elevation between the blade and the part which received the handle. 8d, The wedge-shaped C., with sides greatly overlapping, with or without the stop-ridge, but with a loop or ear upon, and parallel to, its lower surface. 4th, The socketed C., or the C. with a hollow to receive the handle, and generally with a loop or ear upon its lower surface.
Both stone and bronze celts were probably used for several purposes, serving for chisels, adzes, and axes, as well as for weapons of war, like the stone hatchets of the South Sea islanders and other savage or barbarous tribes. Examples of stone and bronze celts of all classes (together with the molds in which bronze eelts were cast) may be seen in the British museum at London, in the national museum of the anti quaries of Scotland at Edinburgh, and in the museum of the Royal Irish academy at Dublin. The last collection has more than 500 examples of stone celts,.about one half of which were found in deepening the bed of the Shannon or its tributaries, between the years 1848 and 1848. A bushel of bronze celts has more than once been discovered at one spot.