n from the living subject, the heart, the
liver, the gall, the blood--either dried or liquid--of animals, the hair
and horn of stags, were all customarily used in many cases where the
motive determining their preference above other _materiae medicae_ is
unknown to us. Many recipes puzzle us by their originality and by the
barbaric character of the ingredients recommended: "the milk of a woman
who has given birth to a boy," the dung of a lion, a tortoise's brains,
an old book boiled in oil.[*]

* Ebers Papyrus, pl. lxxviii. 1. 22--lxxix. 1. 1: "To
relieve a child who is constipated.--An old book. Boil it in
oil, and apply half to the stomach, to provoke evacuation."
It must not be forgotten that, the writings being on
papyrus, the old book in question, once boiled, would have
an effect analogous to that of our linseed-meal poultices.
If the physician recommended taking an old one, it was for
economical reasons merely; the Egyptians of the middle
classes would always have in their possession a number of
letters, copy-books, and other worthless waste papers, of
which they would gladly rid themselves in such a profitable
manner.

The medicaments compounded of these incongruous substances were often
very complicated. It was thought that the healing power was increased by
multiplying the curative elements; each ingredient acted upon a specific
region of the body, and after absorption, separated itself from the rest
to bring its influence to bear upon that region. The physician made use
of all the means which we employ to-day to introduce remedies into
the human system, whether pills or potions, poultices, or ointments,
draughts or clysters. Not only did he give the prescriptions, but he
made them up, thus combining the art of the physician with that of the
dispenser. He prescribed the ingredients, pounded them either separately
or together, he macerated them in the proper way, boiled them, reduced
them by heating, and filtered them through linen. Fat served him as the
ordinary vehicle for ointments, and pure water for potions; but he
did not despise other liquids, such as wine, beer (fermented or
un-fermented), vinegar, milk, olive oil, "ben" oil either crude or
refined, even the urine of men and animals: the whole, sweetened with
honey, was taken hot, night and morning. The use of more than one of
these remedies became worldwide; the Greeks borrowed them from the