Medicine among the Assyrians and Egyptians in 1500 B.C. Introductory lecture upon the history of medicine / [John D. Comrie].

  • John Comrie
Date:
1908]
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Licence: In copyright

Credit: Medicine among the Assyrians and Egyptians in 1500 B.C. Introductory lecture upon the history of medicine / [John D. Comrie]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    17/44 (page 109)
    of Alexandria^ that the sacred books of Tlioth, preserved in the temples and known as the Hermetic Books, were forty-two in number, of which thirty-six dealt with philosophy and six with medicine. The names of the latter were:— (1) On the constitution of the body. (2) On disease. (3) On instruments. (4) On drugs. (5) On the eye. (6) On (diseases of) women. These Hermetic Books, which were carried by pastophori, or priest physicians, in the sacred processions, have unfortunately all been lost: but we know a great deal regarding the actual methods of the physician from some medical papyri which have come down to us. Of these the chief are :— 1. The Papyrus Ebers, preserved at Leipzig, discovered by Professor Ebers in Egypt in 1872. It dates from about 1500 B.c., and consists of 110 pages. 2. The Berlin Medical Papyrus, published by Dr. Brugsch. It dates from about 1300 B.c., and contains 21 pages. There is also a smaller one in the Berlin Museum, of 15 pages. 3. The Kahun Papyrus, published by E. L. Griffith. It dates from about 2000 B.c., but is a short papyrus, consisting of only 3 pages. 4. The Hearst Medical Papyrus, preserved in the University of California, and published by Dr. George A. Eeisner. It con- sists of 17 pages. 5. The British Museum Medical Papyrus. It has not yet been published, but Dr. Wallis Budge, keeper of the Egyptian and Assyrian antiquities in the British Museum, tells me he hopes it will shortly be issued by the trustees of this institution. It dates, probably, from about 1000 B.c. 6. There are also papyri of medico-magical contents in the museums at Leyden, Turin, Cairo and Paris, but these are said 1 Clement of Alexandria, Stromata^ vi. 634. 6uo (xlv orr /cat TecrcrapaKOVTa uravv avayKacai rw yeyovacrt f^if^XoL • wr ras fxkv A? Twv Tracrav KlyvTn'uav Trepieyovo-as (fnXocrocfiLav, ol TrpoeipyjiJbeOvoL eKp^av- OdvovcTL • T0.9 8e XoLTrds ot TracrTOcjyopoL, larpiKas ovcras, Trepl re r^s rov crw/raTOS KaracrKevy^s, Kal irepl vocrtov, /cat Trepl 6pydvo)v /cat <^ap/xa/ctor, /cat Trepl 6cf)6a\piOv, Kal to TeAenratov rrepl ru)v ywaiKcov.