eipzig,
J. C. Hinrichs, 1909-1912.

In this way it came about that diseases were believed to be due to
hostile spirits, or caused by the anger of a god, so that medicines,
no matter how powerful, could only be expected to assuage the pain; but
magic alone, incantations, spells and prayers, could remove the disease.
Experience brought much of the wisdom we call empirical, and the
records, extending for thousands of years, show that the Egyptians
employed emetics, purgatives, enemata, diuretics, diaphoretics and
even bleeding. They had a rich pharmacopoeia derived from the animal,
vegetable and mineral kingdoms. In the later periods, specialism reached
a remarkable development, and Herodotus remarks that the country was
full of physicians;--"One treats only the diseases of the eye, another
those of the head, the teeth, the abdomen, or the internal organs."

Our knowledge of Egyptian medicine is derived largely from the
remarkable papyri dealing specially with this subject. Of these, six or
seven are of the first importance. The most famous is that discovered by
Ebers, dating from about 1500 B.C. A superb document, one of the
great treasures of the Leipzig Library, it is 20.23 metres long and 30
centimetres high and in a state of wonderful preservation. Others are
the Kahun, Berlin, Hearst and British Museum papyri. All these have now
been published--the last three quite recently, edited by Wreszinski.(7)
I show here a reproduction from which an idea may be had of these
remarkable documents. They are motley collections, filled with
incantations, charms, magical formulae, symbols, prayers and
prescriptions for all sorts of ailments. One is impressed by the
richness of the pharmacopoeia, and the high development which the art
of pharmacy must have attained. There were gargles, salves, snuffs,
inhalations, suppositories, fumigations, enemata, poultices and
plasters; and they knew the use of opium, hemlock, the copper salts,
squills and castor oil. Surgery was not very highly developed, but
the knife and actual cautery were freely used. Ophthalmic surgery was
practiced by specialists, and there are many prescriptions in the papyri
for ophthalmia.

One department of Egyptian medicine reached a high stage of development,
vis., hygiene. Cleanliness of the dwellings, of the cities and of the
person was regulated by law, and the priests set a splendid example in
their frequent ablutions, shaving of the entire body, and the