Volume 1
History of medicine / by Dr. Max Neuburger ... ; translated by Ernest Playfair.
- Max Neuburger
- Date:
- 1910-1925
Licence: In copyright
Credit: History of medicine / by Dr. Max Neuburger ... ; translated by Ernest Playfair. Source: Wellcome Collection.
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![to nature in artistic representation, the astoundingly advanced chemical technology, the early developed mathematical and geometrical sense evidenced in structures of every kind, the copious literature with rami- fications into the philosophy of religion, pure science and poetry—all these exceed the utmost expectation, the more so when their origin in the mists of antiquity is taken into consideration. On the other hand, the fact must be borne in mind that the records so far brought to light hardly substantiate the world-wide fame of Egyptian mathematics and astronomy when we compare these with the achieve- ments of the Babylonians in the same subjects, and no less surprising is it that nowhere, either in religion or in the explanation of natural phenomena, do we find a scheme of spiritual life which, suppressing every individual emotion, attains to the height of a coherent conception, a pure abstraction. Even in the sublimest questions there is noticeable an inade- quate definition of ideas, an excessive adherence to the sensuous and to the materia] which is peculiar to the psychology of the African races (fetish- ism, gods with animals’ heads, prevalence of local gods against cosmic forces). It may be that future discoveries will modify this impression, but it is now becoming more and more obvious that the supposed exclusive- ness of Egyptian culture cannot be upheld for the whole range of its develop- ment (this is proved by the language, religion and art, with their frequent loans from other countries). There was undoubtedly a spasmodic fecun- dation from Asia, making itself repeatedly felt (under Hyksos and Armana), overcoming the autochthonous inclination towards torpidity and the predisposition to premature generalisation from experience, whilst impart- ing a new impulse towards progress. Active realism allied to a mysticism with strong leanings towards the material is the characteristic feature of ancient Egypt. Egyptian medicine leaves the same impression, so far as the sources of information hitherto tapped justify a definite opinion. There is this difference, however, that healthy realism, in the shape of an abundant empiricism, shines even through the mystical veil and adds colour to the picture, whilst the lack of higher abstractions weighs little in the balance in view of the rudimentary condition of scientific development. The Egyptian physicians and the sanitary conditions prevailing in the land of the Pharaohs acquired a great reputation ; the highest recog- nition that classic antiquity had to give lay in the fact that many of the Greek thinkers in the presence of the Pyramids recognised in the land of the Nile the foundations upon which was built the edifice of their own](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b24878303_0001_0036.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
