(12) The History of Herodotus, Blakesley’s ed., Bk.  II, 84.

A remarkable statement is made by Pliny, in the discussion upon the use of radishes, which are said to cure a “Phthisicke,” or ulcer of the lungs—­“proofe whereof was found and seen in AEgypt by occasion that the KK. there, caused dead bodies to be cut up, and anatomies to be made, for to search out the maladies whereof men died."(13)

     (13) Pliny, Holland’s translation, Bk.  XIX, Chap.  V, Sect.
     26.

The study of the anatomy of mummies has thrown a very interesting light upon the diseases of the ancient Egyptians, one of the most prevalent of which appears to have been osteo-arthritis.  This has been studied by Elliot Smith, Wood Jones, Ruffer and Rietti.  The majority of the lesions appear to have been the common osteo-arthritis, which involved not only the men, but many of the pet animals kept in the temples.  In a much higher proportion apparently than in modern days, the spinal column was involved.  It is interesting to note that the “determinative” of old age in hieroglyphic writing is the picture of a man afflicted with arthritis deformans.  Evidences of tuberculosis, rickets and syphilis, according to these authors, have not been found.

A study of the internal organs has been made by Ruffer, who has shown that arterio-sclerosis with calcification was a common disease 8500 years ago; and he holds that it could not have been associated with hard work or alcohol, for the ancient Egyptians did not drink spirits, and they had practically the same hours of work as modern Egyptians, with every seventh day free.

ASSYRIAN AND BABYLONIAN MEDICINE

Of equally great importance in the evolution of medicine was the practically contemporary civilization in Mesopotamia.  Science here reached a much higher stage then in the valley of the Nile.  An elaborate scheme of the universe was devised, a system growing out of the Divine Will, and a recognition for the first time of a law guiding and controlling heaven and earth alike.  Here, too, we find medicine ancillary to religion.  Disease was due to evil spirits or demons.  “These ’demons’—­invisible to the naked eye were the precursors of the modern ‘germs’ and ‘microbes,’ while the incantations recited by the priests are the early equivalents of the physician’s prescriptions.  There were different incantations for different diseases; and they were as mysterious to the masses as are the mystic formulas of the modern physician to the bewildered, yet trusting, patient.  Indeed, their mysterious character added to the power supposed to reside in the incantations for driving the demons away.  Medicinal remedies accompanied the recital of the incantations, but despite the considerable progress made by such nations of hoary antiquity as the Egyptians and Babylonians in the diagnosis and treatment of common diseases, leading in time to the development of an extensive pharmacology, so long as the cure of disease rested with the priests, the recital of sacred formulas, together with rites that may be conveniently grouped under the head of sympathetic magic, was regarded as equally essential with the taking of the prescribed remedies."(14)