Egyptian Medicine
By: Becky Shook & Anna Iorio
The history of Egyptian medicine.
Some of the medicine that the Egyptians practiced was amazing. They used acupuncture, herbs and, prayers. They created antibiotics. They also preformed eye surgery. Also, to cure night-blindness they feed the person powdered liver, rich in Vitamin A. According to the text, here are herbs that helped cure illnesses.
- "Honey: An excellent antiseptic, used to treat wounds, and an ancient cure that is now increasingly used by the British Military to treat burns.
- Willow: A concoction of this was used to treat toothache and willow bark formed the basis of modern aspirin.
- Mint: Used to treat gastric ailments and mint is another cure that is still used today.
- Pomegranate: Used to treat infestations of parasitic worms, and modern scientists have found that the high tannin content of this fruit actually does paralyze worms, known to Ancient Egyptian medicine as the 'snakes of the digestive system."
The process of mummification......
First, the body is taken to the "ibu", The place of purification. After that they wash his body with palm wine. Then, they wash it off with water from the Nile. They would cut the left side of the body and remove many of the internal organs.According to the text this is how they wrapped mummies, "First the head and neck are wrapped with strips of fine linen. Then the fingers and the toes are individually wrapped."Also, embalmers placed amulets to protect the body. The arms and legs are wrapped together,then the Book Of The Dead is place between the hands. The body is wrapped more and painted with liquid resin, (it helps keep the body together). A picture of the god Osiris is painted on it's surface. A bored of painted wood is placed on the mummy, then it's placed in a second coffin. Lastly a funeral is held for the deceased.
Medicine emergeing in Egypt.
When mummifying, Egyptians learned many things about how the human body works. The author stated"The Egyptians possessed a great deal of knowledge of healing herbs and repairing physical injuries." Also, according to the text, "They grew skilled at sewing up cuts and setting broken bones." Without mummification present day medicine wouldn't be where it is today.
Why medicine is important to us today.
Medicine is important to us because if we didn't have it everyone would be sick or hurt. There is only so much that the body can take without help/healing. It even helps cure illness.