i8;6.] 
97 
Papyrus Ebers . 
are known as Hieratic, being a cursive form of the hiero- 
glyphic method of writing, and bearing the same relation to 
the latter that our ordinary written hand does to printed 
characters. Hieratic script resulted from attempts to 
simplify the forms and outlines of the ideographic characters 
employed in hieroglyphic writing, which is essentially a com- 
bination of picture-writing with a phonetic system. Hiero- 
glyphics in ancient Egypt were the written language of the 
people, and Hieratic writing was chiefly confined to the 
sacerdotal caste. 
The Papyrus Ebers is so marvellously well preserved that 
not a single letter is lacking in the entire roll. The material 
of the papyrus itself, the inner bark of Cyperus papyrus, was 
examined by Professor Schenck, Professor of Botany in the 
University of Leipzig, who established its identity with that 
of similar rolls, and pronounced it of remarkably good 
manufacture. 
The age of the manuscript was determined by a consider- 
ation of three points i. Palseographic studies of the form 
of the written characters ; 2. Occurrences of names of 
Kings ; 3, Examination of a calendar which occurs on the 
back of the first page. These data enable Ebers to assign 
the writing to the middle of the 16th century, or more 
precisely 1552 B.c. Accepting this date — and it has been 
established beyond reasonable doubt — the writing was prior 
to the exodus of the Israelites : in faCt, according to the 
commonly received chronology, Moses, in 1552 B.c., was just 
21 years of age. 
The authorship of this ancient treatise is not revealed, but 
it bears internal evidence of being one of the six Hermetic 
Books on Medicine named by Clement of Alexandria (200 
a.d.) The Egyptian priests, who were also the physicians, 
in order to give greater authority to their writings, were 
wont to ascribe them to their gods, and their codified 
medical knowledge was generally ascribed to the god Thuti 
(or Thoth). In proof of this, Ebers quotes the following 
passage from page 1, lines 8 and 9, of the papyrus in 
question : — - 
“ Ra pities the sick ; his Teacher is Thuti, who gives him 
speech, who makes this book and gives the instruction to 
scholars and to physicians in their succession.” 
This god Thuti, also written Thoth and Taant, is the 
famous Hermes Trismegistus of the Greeks, the same who 
was regarded by the alchemists of the Middle Ages with 
superstitious reverence as the Father of Alchemy. How- 
ever this may be, historians accord in representing Hermes 
VOL. VI. (N.S.) O 
