THE HARVEIAN ORATION, 1904 25
kind." The Berlin Medical papyrus alone men- tions fifty medicines of vegetable origin. Some of the prescriptions in Ebers' papyrus are stated to have come from the great medical temples of Sais and Heliopolis. The copy of Ebers' papyrus has evidently been in use by the priest physicians, for various notes have been added on the margin by later hands in reference to the prescriptions- Good,' 'Very good,' 'Try this,' etc.
It is an interesting fact that upon the walls of some of the ancient temples hieroglyphic records have been cut referring to medicine, and containing, in some instances, prescriptions; in other cases descriptions of various chemical pro- cesses; some of the temples seem to have had laboratories attached to them. The hieroglyphic name for the land of Egypt was Khami, whence are derived the words 'Alchemy' and 'Chemis- try.'
Surgical instruments and the actual cautery were in use, also steam inhalations, massage, oint- ments, plasters, poultices, suppositories, injections, and emetics, and the importance of temperature in disease was to some extent recognized.
Prescriptions were written out in due form and sometimes at great length, fully equalling those of the most enthusiastic therapeutist of our own day. Some hundreds of prescriptions have come down to us in papyri. The longest prescrip- 2. 1. Odyssey, IV, 227 Dr. Grant Bey, Loc. Cit.
