Patients with untreatable ailments were given palliative care by the surgeon. Each case begins with a medical history and physical investigation of the patient, whose wound is categorized as “an ailment I can treat”, “an ailment I shall contend with”, or “an ailment which not to be treated”. The cases documented in the Smith papyrus are presented in a format that is very similar to that used by modern physicians. The papyrus even contains a prescription for a wrinkle remover containing urea, an ingredient of modern anti-wrinkle creams. Many of the surgical procedures and concepts described in the document are still in use today, and it seems that the ancient Egyptians had knowledge of neuroanatomy that was as detailed and advanced as that of modern medicine. Although ancient civilizations are generally regarded as primitive, the Smith papyrus demonstrates that the ancient Egyptians had highly advanced knowledge of medicine.
Each of them is investigated rationally and deductively, with only one of the 48 cases being treated with magic. The papyrus, which is named after Edwin Smith, is now housed in the New York Academy of Sciences.Ģ7 of the cases documented in the Edwin Smith papyrus are head injuries, and 6 are spinal injuries. It is a textbook of surgery, containing systematic and highly detailed descriptions, diagnoses, treatments and prognoses of 48 neurosurgical and orthopaedic cases. It is the oldest known medical document written in the Middle Egyptian hieratic script, it contains 377 lines of text on the recto (front) and 92 on the verso (back). This remarkable papyrus, bought in 1862 by the American Egyptologist Edwin Smith in Luxor, Egypt, is an ancient Egyptian surgical treatise. 7.9 cm (3.1 in.In medical knowledge, Egypt leaves the rest of the world behind. The rims were made by reheating, cutting, and pressing the glass into shape. These two vessels were formed around a clay core, which was scraped out after the glass had cooled and hardened. Like pomegranates, glass-making arrived in Egypt in the New Kingdom, perhaps also as an import from western Asia. The latter use is perhaps likelier for the smaller, green jar, which depicts the fruit in its unripened state, when the juice is too sour to drink. These two jars were made to hold pomegranate juice, probably as a drink but perhaps also for medicinal purposes. The juice is also helpful in treating stomach disorders such as dysentery and diarrhea. The root of pomegranate trees is prescribed in medical papyri as a vermifuge against intestinal worms its active ingredient, pelletrin, is still used for this purpose. Their juice was prized as a drink but can also be used as an astringent to shrink tissues and reduce swelling in wounds. Pomegranates were introduced into Egypt from western Asia in the New Kingdom. There are three categories of injuries-"an ailment I will handle" (describing injuries for which a known cure existed) "an ailment I will fight with" (denoting one whose treatment was less certain) and "and ailment for which nothing is done" (meaning one for which no practical treatment was known). The injuries listed are consistent with those sustained in war or construction.
The work includes descriptions, examination procedures, diagnoses, and practical treatments for forty-eight distinct injuries, beginning at the top of the head and ending at the shoulder blades and chest. On the basis of the handwriting, it has been dated to about 1600 B.C., but on the basis of language (and errors in transcription), the work is believed to be a copy of another text that was written some three centuries earlier. The Edwin Smith Papyrus is named after its original owner, Edwin Smith, an American Egyptologist (1822–1906) who purchased it in Luxor in 1862.
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