The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1914-04-09
THE DISEASES OF ANCIENTs.

merely because she ID q woman.
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THE DISEASES OF ANCIENTs.
| This IL an age of specialism. Some
doctors limit their practice to babies
some to old persons, some to . single
class of disease. Only recently has
any doctor attempted to specialize on
the diseases of mummies. In recent
issue Of The Journal of the American
Medical Association appears an inter-
| esting account OF the work OF Dr.
Ruffer in the examination of large
number Of recently-dis mum
mics in Egypt. The conditions OF Gus
tom and climate which have pre-
served the mummies of old Egypt
make it possible to compare the de-
fects produced by disease with the
manifestations Of diseases Of the pres
ent day. Such investigations have al
ready unfolded many facts of interest
in respect to the existence Of disease In
bygone times. and have contributed
important facts to the history of nedi-
cine.
The perfect preservation OF many OF
the bodies which have become avail
able in Egypt IN remarkable. The Pc
culiarities Of real mummies are wide
~ known. Coptic bodies which have
recently been examined by Ruffer be-
long to a somewhat different class.
They came from Antinoe In Upper
Egypt: and dated from the fifth to
sixth century. They were therefore
from about 1,40O to 1,5es years old.
They had undergone no artificial
process except that, at one time, they
had been covered with salt. The real
preservative had been the dry Egyp-
tian sand in which they had original
ly been buried enclosed in wooden
collins. Never having been disturbed
by the embalmer, the organs were all
III position. and the bodies contained
no resin. gum or any materials such
as mud. sand, rag, ETC.. generally used
in old Egypt for packing the body
after removal OF the organs. In our
environment, where special precau-
tons are necessary to preserve the
body from decay, it is surprising to
hear of microscopic sections from
these bodies made fifteen hundred
years after death show the minute
structures of the glands in remark
ably fine state Of preservation. or to
learn that the lobes OF the brain and
some of the convolutions were recog-
nizable and that the fbers and valves
Of the heart could be made out. Ruff
bercular disease of the spine among
ancient Copts as one more proof that
the disease has existed from the re-
hottest times and is Independent of
climate. 1t has been found in bodies
buried close to the Mediterranean
shores. in bodies from Upper Egypt
and Nubia. and even In a skeleton
buried In the tropics at Merawi one
of the hottest and dryest places in the
world. Judging from two cases Of en-
larged spleen which were found in
Coptic bodies, Ruffer ventures the
suggestion that these people suffered
from malaria. ...+4-
/. Pyorrhea appears to be as old a the
human race. Evidence of such dis
ease has been found in prehistoric
skulls and in the specimens from al
most all nationalities. Ruffef has
found nothing to suggest that the
Copts knew anything about dentistry.
The long-recognized bad state of the
teeth of ancient Egyptians is again
emphasized in the Coptic bodies Al
most every skull has. some serious
dental defect. 1t Is suggested that this
may perhaps be accounted for by the
fact that very little care of the teeth
appears to have been taken. The
thick incrustations OF tartar are suf-
ficient evidence that the Copts did not
clean their teeth at all. In many peo-
pies and animals the absence of the
tooth brush is compensated for by the
fact that the food is hard, fibrous and
raw. requiring a good deal Of chew
Ing, which mechanically cleans the
teeth. In ancient Coptic times this
does not appear to have been the
case. Ruffer concludes that the Copts
of Antinoe lived chiefly on cooked
soft food. chewed without effort. De.
cay Of the teeth was extremely COM
mon and was possibly due to the ma
ture of the food consumed
THE DENlAGOG AND THE MOB.
"A mob kills the wrong man" was
flashed in newspaper headline lately,