"Rome at an early period gave birth to several philosophers and practitioners in the art of healing. Cornelius Celsus['s] ...works on medicine show the advanced state of surgery and medicine during the Roman Empire. ...Of the methods of administration employed in early Roman pharmacy, the malagma was commonly used. It was a kind of soft mass composed of herbs and grass beaten up to the consistency of a thick paste, and applied to the skin. Numerous formulae for malagmas are given, in which pellitory, , resin, s, , , etc., are included. Their malagmas corresponded with our ointments. They also used plasters, of which the of galbanum, pitch, resin, and oil, in an improved form, has survived two thousand years. Troches, for healing wounds, were composed of dry medicines held in suspension by some liquid such as wine or oil. Pessaries (vaginal) were originated by the Greeks, who called them pessi. The ingredients were placed in a piece of wool, and thus used. Powders and snuffs were also common methods of administration. ...The Greeks called their embrocations or ointments euchrista. The catapotia was the method used for internal administration in liquid form, for which many recipes are given by Celsus."