138 THE LIFE OF SCIENCE 



rule of three; they could find the area of a circle and of a sphere 

 with a very remarkable approximation; they could measure the 

 volume of a cylinder and of the frustum of a square pyramid. But 

 is it necessary to insist upon their mathematical accomplish- 

 ments? 



Pyramids? Did I mention pyramids? Do not these gigantic wit- 

 nesses of the Egyptian genius speak loudly enough? The great 

 pyramid of Gizeh dates from the beginning of the thirtieth cen- 

 tury b.c. In our age of mechanical wonders, its mass is still as 

 imposing as when it was built almost five thousand years ago; 

 it seems as permanent as the hills and in all probability will out- 

 last most of the skyscrapers of which we are so proud. However 

 startling our first vision of it, our admiration increases as we 

 analyze the achievement and measure the amount of mathematical 

 and engineering skill, of experience and discipline, which were 

 needed to bring it to a successful conclusion. No wonder that so 

 many scholars lost their wits for pondering too much on the sub- 

 ject! 



If we pass to medicine, other surprises are in store for us. The 

 Greek god of healing, Asclepius, was but a descendant of the 

 Egyptian one, Imhotep, and the history of the latter can be traced 

 back to a real personality, that of a learned physician who 

 flourished probably at the beginning of the thirtieth century b.c. 

 What does this mean again? We often speak of Hippocrates, and 

 we like to call him the Father of Medicine; we shall better ap- 

 preciate Imhotep's antiquity when we realize that Hippocrates is 

 more than halfway between him and us : The chances are that 

 Imhotep's medical knowledge was but rudimentary, but it cannot 

 have been insignificant — otherwise his apotheosis would hardly 

 have occurred. However this was only a beginning, or more cor- 

 rectly, a new beginning. Let some thirteen centuries elapse, and 

 we reach the golden age of Egyptian science — the age to which 

 the Rhind papyrus belongs. Strangely enough we have also a 

 medical treatise of the same age, the Edwin Smith papyrus, of 

 which Professor Breasted has prepared an edition. This is not 



