Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1900-10-12
OLD MEDICAL WORK.
THE DISCOVERY BOOK 1000
YEARS OLD.

THE DISCOVERY OF A BOOK 1000
! YEARS OLD.
Full Translation Just Completed of the Ebers
Papyrus. an Egyptian Book Devoted to
! Diseases Of Man and Their Cure-Astound.
ing knowledge Of Matera Mediea Dis.
played.
| For 1900 years Hippocrates of Kos
has been known to the world as the
Father of Medicine" This destinc-
ton, has been wrested from the an
oient Greek by the discovery and
translation of an early Egyptian
papyrus treating Of the subject of
medicine, with date so remote as al
most to place Hippocrates within the
ranks of modern physicians.
English medical literature is about
to be enriched by the translation Of
this papyrus, generally admitted by
Psychologists to be the Oldest book
devoted to the science of medicine ex.
tant. The work is known to scientists
as the Papyrus Ebers, and is supposed
to have been written during the reign
OF Bicheres, a King OF the fourth
dynasty, 1858 to 1866 B. C.. Thus the
original document is nearly 1000
years old and it contains the written
genesis OF the art OF healing.
The document is carefully preserved
in the library OF the University OF
Lcipsic, and the English translation
of Papyrus Ebers, volume of several
hundred pages will soon be ready for
the press.
Page SO OF the Papyrus Ebers is de-
voted almost entirely to remedies for
household ills. Its contents clearly
indicate that the ancient Egyptian
housewife was beset with cares simi.
lar to those of the modern housekeep-
er. 1t reveals likewise the fact that
woman early made use of cosmetics.
The remedy given for the falling out
OF the hair is ascribed to the mother
of King Teta of the first dynasty.
To Psychologists the story OF the
finding of Papyrus Ebers possesses all
the characteristics of q romance. In
the winter OF 1S72-73 George Ebers,
OF Leipsic, and his friend, Ludwig
Stern, spent several months at Thebes
in quest of rare documents. For a
time the two scientists made their
dwelling place in one Of the tombs of
Abdel- -Gurnah, and associated daily
with the Arabs of Luxor. A wealthy
citizen of Luxor showed to Ebers the
antiquities which he, little by little,
had obtained from their custodian on
the other side of the Nile, and at length
revealed to him the fact that he was
the possessor of apayrus obtained from
the same source.
Upon close inspection of the Papy-
rus Ebers made the startling discovery
that it was a document of great value
and in an unusual condition OF preser-
vation. He longed to possess the
document himself, but had not means
to meet the demands of the owner,
who was not altogether aware OF its
full value. However, receiving the
financial assistance OF Max Gunther,
wealthy Englishman, Ebers pur-
chased the treasured papyrus and con-
veyed it to his home in Leipsic, there
to study its contents at leisure. 1t
was finally turned over to the library
of the University OF Leipsic for safe
keeping. In order to better preserve
the valuable antiquity, it was cut into
twenty-nine pieces and each piece
placed under glass.
According to the statement of the
Egyptian possessor, Papyrus Ebers
was found in tomb in the so-called
II Assassit, part OF the Metropolis OF
Thebes, reposing between the legs of
a mummy. Since the finder of the
papyrus was dead, it was impossible to
refer to the exact tomb which former
ly contained the treasure.
When Ebers came into possession of
the papyrns, it consisted OF a single,
tightly rolled piece of the finest yell
low-brown papyrus. The width OF the
document was thirty centimeters, and
the length OF the written part 2O.23
meters. No other papyrus known to
Psychologists is better preserved, and
not single letter of the document is
missing.
The text of this perfect ancient
record is divided into pages, each OF
which is numbered. The page num-
bers are placed over the first line in
the middle of each page and run from
l to ITO. Singularly, the numbers
% and 20 are missing, although the
text continues uninterruptedly. The
omission is explained on the ground
that the Egyptians considered Ito to
be a perfect number, and by this
means the writer was enabled to COM
plete his book with the required num-
ber Of pages.
Each page OF the papyrus contains
either twenty-one or twenty-five lines.
With the exception of pages 3 to 2l'
which are considerably smaller, the
pages are twenty-five centimeters in
width. The script in which the
papyrus is written, is extraordinarily
regular, and is partly in black and
partly in red ink. This form OF writ
ing is known as the hieratic, and Is