24 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM. vol. 65. 



raised to the dignity of goddess, slie still takes care of the health of meu, and 

 " those who implore her succor find themselves immediately relieved." She 

 was called the Lady of Enchantments, having originated many of the charms 

 and invocations used in the Egyptian practice of medicine. (See fig. 13.) 

 Cat. No. 143,331, U.S.N.M. 



Horus. — Son of Osiris and Isis. One of the founders of the :ut of medicine. 

 Having been put to death by Set, he was restored to life by his mother, Isis, 

 who later revealed to him the secrets of pharmacy. He was called the God 

 of Divination, which he also learned of his mother. He is represented with 

 the head of a hawk. (See fig. 13.) Cat. No. 143,334, U.S.N.M. 



Imhotep; I-em-hotep. — A learned physician, probably a priest of Ra. the 

 sun god. He lived during the third dynasty, about 3,500 years B. C. In the 

 course of ages he was deified as the special God of Medicine. His name 

 I-em-hotep, is translated " He who cometh in peace," and he is described 

 as the good physician of gods and men, kind and merciful, assuaging the 

 .sufferings of those in pain, healing the diseases of men. and giving peaceful 

 sleep to the restless. His great temple stood outside tlie eastern wall of 

 Memphis, near the Serapeum. (See fig. 13.) Cat. No. 143,332,U.S.N.M. 



Papyrus Ebers. — The Papyrus Ebers is a treatise on matei-ia medica, phar- 

 mac.v. and therapeutics, one of the oldest known medical works ; written 1,552 

 years before the Christian era, in the time of Moses, and before the exodus 

 of tho Israelites from Egypt. It was found near the necropolis of Thebes, 

 in Upper Egypt, in 1872. 



Written in Hieratic characters upon a kind of paper prepared from the 

 papyrus plant, in a .sheet 12 inches wide and 100 feet long clo.sely rolled into 

 a scroll. 



It contains references to many drugs, animal, vegetable, and mineral, and 

 gives numerous formulie for the compounding of medicine and the therapeutical 

 indications for their use. 



Among the animals mentioned are : The buffalo, stag, ox, pig, camel, ram. 

 dog, crocodile, bat, goose, tortoise, beetles, and flies. 



Among the plants : Acacia, sweet flag, wormwood, myrrh, frankincense, 

 coriander, saffron, cumin, citron, henbane, juniper, lettuce, flax, mandrake, 

 olive, pomegranate, castor-oil plant, willow, sesamum, and fenugreek. 



Among the minerals: Sea salt, niter, charcoal, lead, bronze, antimony, cop- 

 per, lapis lazuli, and sapphire. 



Miscellaneous remedies: Blood, liuman brains, urine, feces, genitals of cats, 

 various oils, stale beer, honey, wine, milk, yeast, eggs, and wax. 



Therapeutics : Mention is made of purgatives, anthelmintics, tonics, anti- 

 lithics. al)ortives; remedies for diseases of the stomach and heart, for fistula, 

 hemorrhoids, strangury, hemicrania, diarrhea, conjunctivitis, cataract, in- 

 flamed eyes, granular lids, baldness, cancer, g'angrene, boils, toothache, 

 erysipelas, eruptive diseases, various diseases of women ; as well as instruc- 

 tions for bandaging wounds, the operation for stone, foetal extraction, removal 

 of tumors, etc. In all showing careful observation of diseases and intelligent 

 application of remedies. 



The work also contains proof that the ancient Egyptians were tolerably 

 well versed in superficial anatomy for nearly all parts of the human frame 

 are mentioned as well as the larger viscera. (See fig. 14.) Cat. No. 143,511, 

 U.S.N.M. 



Prescription from the Papiints Ebers. — Written about 1552 B. C, in the 

 hieratic (script) writing of that period, with translations into hieroglyphic 

 Egyptian, phonetic English, and literal English. (See fig. 15.) Cat. No. 

 148,335, U.S.N.M. 



