According to Herodotus, Egyptian physicians specialized to a considerable extent, ‘Each physician applies himself to one disease only.’ ‘Some,’ he says, ‘are for the eyes alone, others for the head, others for the teeth, others for diseases of the abdomen, others again for special internal diseases.’[28] As to dentistry it may be remarked that the ancient Egyptians were probably the first to stop decayed teeth with gold. I may add that Ebers states that twenty distinct diseases of the eye are referred to in the papyri, and Dr. Grant Bey asserts that the operation for cataract was practised in ancient Egypt.[29] As regards materia medica the Egyptians possessed the following drugs:—lactuca, various salts of lead, such as the sulphate, with the action of which in allaying local inflammation they were well acquainted; pomegranate and acanthus pith as vermifuges; peppermint, sulphate and acetate of copper, oxide of antimony, sulphide of mercury, petroleum, nitrate of potash, castor oil, opium, coriander, absinthe, juniper (much used as a diuretic), caraway, lotus, gentian, mustard, ox-gall, aloes, garlic, and various bitter infusions; mandragora, linseed, squills, saffron, resin, and various turpentine products; cassia, certain species of cucumis, cedar-oil, yeast, colchicum, nasturtium, myrrh, tamarisk, powdered lapis lazuli, vinegar, indigo; the oasis onion, mastic and various gums, mint, fennel, hebanon or hyoscyamus, magnesia, sebeste (a tonic and a cough medicine), lime, soda, iron, and a great number of other agents, the names of which no one can at present translate. [Illustration: PLATE VI Front of the temple of I-em-hotep, Island of Philae] [Illustration: PLATE VII Eastern wall of courtyard of temple of I-em-hotep, Philae; showing door and apertures into narrow wall chamber] In reading this very imperfect list one does not wonder that Homer speaks of ‘the abundant herbs of Egypt, healing and baneful, used by men more skilled in medicine than any of human kind.’[30] The Berlin Medical papyrus alone mentions 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 processes; 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 ‘Chemistry.’[31]