In 1971 Egypt published a stamp showing Hesy Ra (an ancient physician) and a papyrus (Stanley Gibbons 1098, Scott 864). Another consisted simply of equal parts of writing ink and CSF. Among the medicines mentioned in the papyrus of Ebers, ox liver against night blindness, powdered hyoscyamus to expel pain caused by worms, and a favourite Egyptian pomade for baldness consisting of equal parts of lion, hippopotamus, crocodile, goose, serpent, and ibex fats. The writer notes three types of healers: physicians, surgeons, and sorcerers who are exorcists. For the most part it contains a collection of recipes for various diseases and symptoms. Whereas the Edwin Smith papyrus is a surgical document, the papyrus of Ebers, by contrast, is medical. The papyrus contains no clues as to the author’s name. The brain with its convolutions and meninges is mentioned for the first time. The author noted that paralysis of the bladder and of the intestines occurred with lesions of the spinal cord and paraplegia resulting from injury to the head varied depending on which side of the brain was injured. In the case of depressed fracture of the skull, the need for removing the bony fragments with an elevator is stated.
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Among the matters recorded in the document are head injuries and an incomplete account of sprain to the spinal column. It was acquired at Luxor in 1862 and given to the New York Historical Society by Smith’s daughter in 1906. It was written about 1700 BC and thought to be a copy of a much more ancient manuscript written about 3000 BC, being more or less contemporaneous with the great pyramids.
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Fragments which partly fill this gap were identified in 1922, in the collection of the New York Historical Society, which had acquired them from Edwin Smith. The Edwin Smith papyrus is the oldest known medical writing and also the most complete and important treatise on the surgery of antiquity. The two sections in the British Museum were linked by a now missing section about 18 cm long the original may have been cut in half by modern robbers to increase its sale value. The Ebers papyrus was advertised for sale in 1869 and obtained by Georg Ebers at Thebes in 1872. Allen of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.Besides hieroglyphics usually engraved or painted on stone, the Egyptians employed certain cursive scripts, usually inscribed on thin sheets of the papyrus plant. When you click on the text button on the site you see the new translation of that portion of the papyrus made by James P. ♦ You can scroll through a virtual scroll of the Edwin Smith papyrus on the website of the National Library of Medicine at.
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The physiological functions of organs and vessels remained a complete mystery to the ancient Egyptians." Other vessels are described, some carrying air, some mucus, while two to the right ear are said to carry the breath of life, and two to the left ear the breath of death. The papyrus shows that the heart, vessels, liver, spleen, kidneys, ureters and bladder were recognized, and that the blood vessels were known to be connected to the heart. It contains the first known descriptions of the cranial sutures, the meninges, the external surface of the brain, the cerebrospinal fluid, and the intracranial pulsations. "The papyrus also describes anatomical observations in exquisite detail. The use of magic for treatment is resorted to in only one case (Case 9). Immobilisation was often advised for head and spinal cord injuries, which is still in practice today in the short-term treatment of some injuries. Among the treatments are closing wounds with sutures (for wounds of the lip, throat, and shoulder), preventing and curing infection with honey and mouldy bread, and stopping bleeding with raw meat. "The text begins by addressing injuries to the head, and continues with treatments for injuries to neck, arms and torso, where the text breaks off. In 1948, the New York Historical Society and the Brooklyn Museum presented the papyrus to the New York Academy of Medicine, where it is preserved today. From 1938 through 1948, the papyrus was at the Brooklyn Museum.
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After Smith's death in 1906 his daughter donated the papyrus to New York Historical Society. Coincidentally, Smith was born in Connecticut in 1822 – the same year Egyptian hieroglyphic was decoded by Champollion. Sometime in the 19th century it was cut into 17 columns. In 1862 it was purchased in Luxor, Egypt by Edwin Smith, an American Egyptologist and collector and dealer in antiquities. When the papyrus was discovered it was about 15 feet long in roll or scroll form. Written in the hieratic script of the ancient Egyptian language, it is based on material from a thousand years earlier. It consists of a list of 48 traumatic injury cases, with a description of the physical examination, treatment and prognosis of each. The Edwin Smith Papyrus, the most detailed and sophisticated of the extant medical papyri, is the only surviving copy of part of an ancient Egyptian textbook on trauma surgery, and the world's oldest surgical treatise.