Ancient Egyptian medicine : a bibliographical demonstration in the library of the Faculty of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow, 12th January, 1893 / by James Finlayson.

  • James Finlayson
Date:
1893
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Ancient Egyptian medicine : a bibliographical demonstration in the library of the Faculty of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow, 12th January, 1893 / by James Finlayson. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Glasgow Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Glasgow Library.

    36/60 (page 34)
    all the passages in which this word is mentioned, in our Papyrus, that the disease truly occurs in the most varied parts of the body, but especially and principally in the abdomen : after that, in the mouth also, in the legs, on the rump, in the back, heart, urinary passages, eye, trembling arm, ^in the teeth, in the head, and in all the limbs : suppurating wounds which arise from JJ^edu are also mentioned. They occur, besides, with no great infrequency in connection with the AAA disease, and this appears to me to give a certain basis for the explanation of the word. All things considered, the conclusion is well established that one must understand by this expression, first of all, the painful swelling of the abdomen, which appears with such extraordinary frequency, and at a very early stage of Chlorosis ^Egyptiaca : ' the whole lower abdomen,' says Lutz ( Volkmann's Saramlimg klinischer Vortrcige, Nr. 255, 256, S. 43), 'is painful, with or without pressure being exercised, and is also commonly distended by flatulence.' The general explana- tion given answers also excellently for the different parts of the body in which the U%edu otherwise occurs : the special meaning however, which is to be given to this word in connection with the individual situations must remain undetermined, on account of the quite inadequate description at our command. Ebers Papyrus: Eye Disease. The chapter on eye diseases is an extensive one, as we might expect from the prevalence of such disox'ders in Egypt at the present time, and from the obvious character of such affections. This chapter extends from the bottom of page 55 of the Papyrus to the thirteenth line of page 64. This chapter has been translated in full by Ebers himself in a special monograph published in 1889.* He gives a translation, clause by clause, of the hieratic text, into phonetics (or sometimes into hieroglyphs), and into German. There are also elaborate annotations on various words as to their meaning, and especi- * Papyrus Ebers: Die Maasse und das Kapitel iibcr die AitgenLrank- lieiten von Georg Ebers. Leipzig, 1889. Des xi Bandes der Abliandlun<^en der ])liilologisch-liistorisclien Classe der Kiiuigl. Siiclisischen Gesellsehaft der Wi.ssenschaften No. 2 und 3.