100 
Papyrus Ebers . 
[January, 
The following is the translation of the first four lines of 
Plate I. : — 
“ The book begins with the preparation of the medicines for 
all portions of the body of a patient. I came from Helio- 
polis with the Great Ones from Het aai, the Lords of Pro- 
tection, the masters of Eternity and Salvation. I came from 
Sais with the Mother-goddesses, who extended to me protec- 
tion. The Lord of the Universe told me how to free the 
gods from all murderous diseases. 
The work abounds in prescriptions, of which the following 
are samples : — 
Beginning of the Book of Medicines. To remove illness 
from the stomach. Rub up the seed of the Thehui plant 
with vinegar and give the patient to drink. 
The same for sick bowels. 
Caraway seed ..... 1-64 dram. 
Goose fat ...... 1-8 dram. 
Milk ........ 1 tenat. 
Boil, stir, and eat. 
The same : 
Pomegranate seed . . . . 
Sycamore fruit (?) . . . . 
Beer ........ 
Treat as above. 
1-8 dram. 
1-8 dram. 
1 tenat. 
In the original the arrangement of the substances and 
quantities in two columns is the same as here given. The 
weights are written in red ink. Other prescriptions contain 
reference to pills made by mixing certain substances with 
honey and rolling them into little balls. The weights and 
measures in this unique work deserve a longer notice than 
space will permit. Certain characters with dots above them 
represent weights, and a series of special signs indicate 
measures of volume. The unit of weight employed is 
believed by Ebers to bear a close relation to the later Arabic 
dirhem, or dram, which is equivalent to about 48 English 
grains. But owing to the smallness of the quantities 
given in the prescriptions, the unit is probably double the 
drachm in value. This unit is represented in hieroglyphics 
by a spindle-shaped figure, and divisions of this unit into 
eighths, sixteenths, thirty-seconds, and sixty-fourths were 
indicated by arbitrary dots and other characters placed 
beneath the sign of the unit, in certain positions ; the 
fractions 1-8, 1-16, 1-32, 1=64 always recurring, and 
