(12) The History of
Herodotus, Blakesley’s ed., Bk. II, 84.
A remarkable statement is made by Pliny, in the discussion
upon the use of radishes, which are said to cure a
“Phthisicke,” or ulcer of the lungs—“proofe
whereof was found and seen in AEgypt by occasion that
the KK. there, caused dead bodies to be cut up, and
anatomies to be made, for to search out the maladies
whereof men died."(13)
(13) Pliny, Holland’s
translation, Bk. XIX, Chap. V, Sect.
26.
The study of the anatomy of mummies has thrown a very
interesting light upon the diseases of the ancient
Egyptians, one of the most prevalent of which appears
to have been osteo-arthritis. This has been studied
by Elliot Smith, Wood Jones, Ruffer and Rietti.
The majority of the lesions appear to have been the
common osteo-arthritis, which involved not only the
men, but many of the pet animals kept in the temples.
In a much higher proportion apparently than in modern
days, the spinal column was involved. It is interesting
to note that the “determinative” of old
age in hieroglyphic writing is the picture of a man
afflicted with arthritis deformans. Evidences
of tuberculosis, rickets and syphilis, according to
these authors, have not been found.
A study of the internal organs has been made by Ruffer,
who has shown that arterio-sclerosis with calcification
was a common disease 8500 years ago; and he holds
that it could not have been associated with hard work
or alcohol, for the ancient Egyptians did not drink
spirits, and they had practically the same hours of
work as modern Egyptians, with every seventh day free.
Of equally great importance in the evolution
of medicine was the practically contemporary civilization
in Mesopotamia. Science here reached a much higher
stage then in the valley of the Nile. An elaborate
scheme of the universe was devised, a system growing
out of the Divine Will, and a recognition for the
first time of a law guiding and controlling heaven
and earth alike. Here, too, we find medicine
ancillary to religion. Disease was due to evil
spirits or demons. “These ’demons’—invisible
to the naked eye were the precursors of the modern
‘germs’ and ‘microbes,’ while
the incantations recited by the priests are the early
equivalents of the physician’s prescriptions.
There were different incantations for different diseases;
and they were as mysterious to the masses as are the
mystic formulas of the modern physician to the bewildered,
yet trusting, patient. Indeed, their mysterious
character added to the power supposed to reside in
the incantations for driving the demons away.
Medicinal remedies accompanied the recital of the
incantations, but despite the considerable progress
made by such nations of hoary antiquity as the Egyptians
and Babylonians in the diagnosis and treatment of
common diseases, leading in time to the development
of an extensive pharmacology, so long as the cure
of disease rested with the priests, the recital of
sacred formulas, together with rites that may be conveniently
grouped under the head of sympathetic magic, was regarded
as equally essential with the taking of the prescribed
remedies."(14)
