did herbs of many kinds enter into this, but
such substances as lizard's blood, the teeth of swine, putrid meat,
the moisture from pigs' ears, boiled horn, and numerous other even more
repellent ingredients. Whoever is familiar with the formulae employed by
European physicians even so recently as the eighteenth century will note
a striking similarity here. Erman points out that the modern Egyptian
even of this day holds closely to many of the practices of his remote
ancestor. In particular, the efficacy of the beetle as a medicinal
agent has stood the test of ages of practice. "Against all kinds of
witchcraft," says an ancient formula, "a great scarabaeus beetle; cut
off his head and wings, boil him; put him in oil and lay him out;
then cook his head and wings, put them in snake fat, boil, and let the
patient drink the mixture." The modern Egyptian, says Erman, uses almost
precisely the same recipe, except that the snake fat is replaced by
modern oil.

In evidence of the importance which was attached to practical medicine
in the Egypt of an early day, the names of several physicians have come
down to us from an age which has preserved very few names indeed, save
those of kings. In reference to this Erman says(6): "We still know
the names of some of the early body physicians of this time;
Sechmetna'eonch, 'chief physician of the Pharaoh,' and Nesmenan his
chief, the 'superintendent of the physicians of the Pharaoh.' The
priests also of the lioness-headed goddess Sechmet seem to have been
famed for their medical wisdom, whilst the son of this goddess, the
demi-god Imhotep, was in later times considered to be the creator of
medical knowledge. These ancient doctors of the New Empire do not seem
to have improved upon the older conceptions about the construction of
the human body."

As to the actual scientific attainments of the Egyptian physician, it is
difficult to speak with precision. Despite the cumbersome formulae and
the grotesque incantations, we need not doubt that a certain practical
value attended his therapeutics. He practised almost pure empiricism,
however, and certainly it must have been almost impossible to determine
which ones, if any, of the numerous ingredients of the prescription had
real efficacy.

The practical anatomical knowledge of the physician, there is every
reason to believe, was extremely limited. At first thought it might
seem that the practice of embalming would have led to the custom of
d