medical

taken from the Book of Facts
written by Reader's Digest.




the healing Arts

Medicine and surgery were both advanced and respected in Ancient Egypt - so respected that Pharaoh Atothis is supposed to have written a book on anatomy around 3000 BC.
nine medical treatises have survived. one, the oldest surviving book of surgery in the world, contains details of 48 operations, among them trepanning - boring a hole in the skull to relieve pressure on the brain.
Others contain medical advice which is largely based on superstition, but they also list drugs that are still familiar, such as castor oil, sodium bicarbonate and arsenic.
Egyptian doctors even used adhesive plasters on wounds.