The Ronan pioneer. [volume] (Ronan, Mont.) 1910-1970, 1911-10-20
PRESCRIPTION IS
$500 YEARS old
Epyptian 0strac0n Bears a Cure
For Hysteria.
PAINTED ON POLISHED Stone
Calls For Fumisation With Powdered
Gems-More Modest Remedies Suf-
fee For tho Poor---Found lr the
Metropolitan Museum Of Art.


fee For tho Poor---found lr the
Metropolitan Museum Of Art.
The oldest medical prescription in
America. 81 far as amy one knows.
has been found in the metropolitan Mu-
scum Of Art. New York. It is ut least
$500 years old and is listed in the mu-
scum as "AcceSsion no. 1888"
ut is written on Il small piece Of
limestone" says the Journal of the
American Medical Association. "ahout
81 by 3 inches il; its present somewhat
injured condition, carefully smoo!hed
for the purpose. forming what is ca led
an 'OStracon.
1.-THE writing was done With Il brush
and some sort of black ink or pa mt.
for pens did not come into use in Egypt
until the Roman time The substance
employed was we'll adapted for its ur-
pose, for the writing Is still quite pliin.
except near the edges OF the st he.
where augmentation has occurred.
1.-THE inscription is in the cd cur~ive
hieratic writing, somewhat similar to
that of the old Ebers papyrus. which
dates from about 1000 r. G.. it is
written on both sides of the stone with
what psychologists would probably
call typical Egyptian neer' of slch
details, from above down on the longe
measurement of the stone Oh one side.
but across on the other side, MS some
ladies of the present day, after having
written down one Sher, of letter pa
per. turn 1t over and write crosswise
on the back of it.
"Unfortunately it is not know,
whence this specimen comes. 1t WAS
noticed in the museum some years
ago by Max Mueller. who recognized
its medical character and translated
the inscription, though rather unsatis-
factorily. An effort was then made
to find the place of it's origin. but the
specimen had come with number of
other antique finds of many kinds
gathered from various portions of
Egypt, and its exact provcnience, to
use the archaeologic term, could not be
determined.
1.-THE prescription as written seems
to be copy, because portions that in
the ordinary medical writings of the
time are abbreviated are here written
out completely, just as copies of pre-.
scriptions written out by druggists to.
day have the Authorizations enlarged.
"The ingredients called for In the
prescription are mainly precious
stones These were to be ground up,
to be used for fumigation. Professor
Won Oefele. .n authority on ancient
Egyptian medicine suspects the case
was one of hysteria. though there is
no indication of this on the rrcscrip-
ton itself.
"Ground precious stones We're favor
lite remedies for hysterical manifesto
lions. They were used for fungatiop
whenever the ball in the throat, our
globus Mysterious. was prominent
symptom.
"Indications on the prescription
show that various classes of precious
and semiprecious stones were used
for patients of differing degrees of
wealth. For the very wealthy a valu-
able stone like sapphire was used.
For those of moderate wealth more
modest stone would do. For the poor
malaclite, which was rather common.
suff1ced. The remedies which cure the
nervous affections of ordinary people
seem never to have been capable OF
producing the same effect on tho ncu.
rotic symptoms of the wealthy, for
whom something quite different and,
above all. much moro costly is re-
quired.
"'Turther study Of the specimen will
doubtless bring out more interesting
details with regard to tho medicine of
the time"