EGYPTIAN SCIENCE 



sive anatomical observations for the love of pure 

 knowledge. All Egyptian science is eminently practi- 

 cal. If we think of the Egyptian as mysterious, it is be- 

 cause of the superstitious observances that we every- 

 where associate with his daily acts; but these, as we 

 have already tried to make clear, were really based on 

 scientific observations of a kind, and the attempt at 

 true inferences from these observations. But whether 

 or not the Egyptian physician desired anatomical 

 knowledge, the results of his inquiries were certainly 

 most meagre. The essentials of his system had to do 

 with a series of vessels, alleged to be twenty-two or 

 twenty-four in number, which penetrated the head and 

 were distributed in pairs to the various members of the 

 body, and which were vaguely thought of as carriers of 

 water, air, excretory fluids, etc. Yet back of this vague- 

 ness, as must not be overlooked, there was an all-essen- 

 tial recognition of the heart as the central vascular 

 organ. The heart is called the beginning of all the 

 members. Its vessels, we are told, " lead to all the mem- 

 bers ; whether the doctor lays his finger on the forehead, 

 on the back of the head, on the hands, on the place of 

 the stomach ( ?) , on the arms, or on the feet, everywhere 

 he meets with the heart, because its vessels lead to all 

 the members." 9 This recognition of the pulse must 

 be credited to the Egyptian physician as a piece of 

 practical knowledge, in some measure off-setting the 

 vagueness of his anatomical theories. 



ABSTRACT SCIENCE ^ 



But, indeed, practical knowledge was, as has been 

 said over and over, the essential characteristic of Egyp- 



