The antiquity of disease / by Roy L. Moodie.

  • Roy Lee Moodie
Date:
[1923]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The antiquity of disease / by Roy L. Moodie. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    the complete ossification of the thyroid cartilage and of the first rib, not its sheath alone, and by the calcareous patches in the aorta. A single tooth, the upper right median incisor, was visible. Although the body was reduced to little more than skin and bones, the redun¬ dancy of the skin of the abdomen, thighs, and cheeks indicate that Merneptah was a somewhat corpulent old man. These interesting observations upon the atheromatous patches in the aorta of the elderly pharaoh were followed by two studies by Ruffer on various arterial lesions found in Egyptian mummies. The earlier and more complete study deals with arteries taken from mummies of the Eighteenth to the Twenty-seventh dynasties (1580-527 b.c.), and from the time of the Persian conquest (525 b.c.). Ruffer also dissected mummies from later periods so that his studies ranged over material representing a period of nearly two thousand years. The arteriosclerosis of the ancient Egyptians followed exactly the same course as the disease follows today. The small atheromatous patches and the histological anatomy of the vessels are identical with those of today. The earliest sign of the disease now, as then, is in, or close below, the fenestrated membrane. The ancient disease, as well as the modern, was characterized by a marked degeneration of the muscular coat and of the endothelium. The small atheromatous patches subse¬ quently fuse and form large patches of degenerated tissue, which may reach the surface and open out into the lumen of the tube. The etiology of this disease three thousand years ago is as obscure as it is in modern people. The common
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