Remarks on army surgeons and their works / by Charles Alexander Gordon.

  • Gordon, C. A. (Charles Alexander), Sir, 1821-1899.
Date:
1870
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Remarks on army surgeons and their works / by Charles Alexander Gordon. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    I / A KEiNFAKlvS ON AR^IY SURGEONS ANT) THIGR WORKS. BY C. A. GORDON, M.D., C.B., DeiDiity Inspector-General of Hospitals. Th.yt the armies of aucieiit Egypt had surgeons and physicians attached to them has been placed beyond a doubt by recent re- searches into the history of that people; and although no ligTit has been thrown upon the nature of the duties professed by them, we learn that among the regulations to which they were subject, was one prohibiting the receipt by them of payment or rewards from the soldiers whom they treated.* The practice of the healing ait was. in those days confined to the priesthood, and in process of time became mixed up with the mythology of the country, while incantations and astrology were abundantly ap- pealed to in the treatment of disease. TTurried as this glance at the early history of a department of the profession must be, I may be permitted to observe that according to those priestly surgeons, no fewer than thirty-six demons presided over the human body, each demon having one of that number of regions into which it was for the purpose somewhat arbitrarily divided. The duty of the physician (or surgeon) was, having discovered the particular part and demon at fault, to invoke the deity capa- ble of giving relief; yet it is satisfactory even now to learn that in some cases at least, the treatment was not altogether confined to forms and ceremonies,—thus squills were administered for the cure of dropsy, and oxide of iron administered in appropriate cases. The ancient Greeks doubtless received their knowledge of surgery and medicine from the Egyptians, andsoliighly did this polished iieojile esteem tlie professors of the combined arts, tliat they looked upon them as no less than sons of the gods. Under * Foublaucpie, ]). 14. li