Note (5) — BOOK VII.

5. And some again require a wound, &c.) Jamque alia rectam plagam desiderant, ut in carne: alia vero vehementer cutem extenuant, in quibus tota ea super pus excidenda est. There are several variations in the reading of the copies of this paragraph, but they do not remove the difficulty. Morgagni[ JO ] very ingeniously conjectures, that after Celsus had considered such as were quite mature, he next mentioned such as were not quite ripe; and did not talk here of cutting off the whole skin, because he afterwards says, Est etiam in rerum natura, ut cutis latius excidenda sit; and that what is here said of the skin being extenuated, was repeated from above by carelessness. All the old editions and MSS. have itemque for jamque; none of them ut; the MS. tuto for tota. Upon the whole, he seems inclined to read it thus: Itemque alia rectam plagam desiderant in carne; in quibus tuto ea super pus incidenda sit; i. e. ‘Others again require a wound in a straight direction in the flesh, in which it may be proper and safe to make an incision above the pus.’