Papyrus Ebers, the Earliest Medical Work Extant.
By H. Carrington Bolton, Ph.D.
The most ancient chemical manuscript extant is a Greek papyrus of Egyptian origin, preserved in the library of the University of Leyden, and supposed to date from the third century A. D., but the Astor Library, New York, a few years since, came into possession of a work far surpassing in antiquity the Leyden manuscript, and of infinitely greater interest and value to the student of the history of pharmacy. This remarkable work is a facsimile of an Egyptian medical treatise, written in the sixteenth century B.C. and consequently more than 3,400 years old.
G. F. Rodwell, F.R.S., author of “The Birth of Chemistry,” in a letter to the Editor of the Chemical News, referred to our knowledge of Egyption chemistry in the following language: “When we remember that the science originated in Egypt, and that the very name is derived from an Egyptian source, we can but hope that, in the progress of Egyptian discovery, as valuable information in regard to the history of chemistry as has already been found in regard to astronomy, may be brought to light.”
The Egyptian papyrus is a first response to the desire therein expressed. The title reads, translated, thus:
“Papyrus Ebers, the Hermetic Book of Medicine of the Ancient Egyptians, in Hieratic writing. Published, with Synopsis of Contents and Introduction, by George Ebers. With a Hieroglyphic-Latin Glossary by Ludwig Stern. Under the patronage of the Royal Bureau of Education in Saxony, Leipzig: William Engelman, 1875, 2 vols., folio.”
