_THE MEDICINE OF THE ANCIENT CIVILIZATIONS._ CHAPTER I. EGYPTIAN MEDICINE. Antiquity of Egyptian Civilization.—Surgical Bandaging.—Gods and Goddesses of Medicine.—Medical Specialists.—Egyptians claimed to have discovered the Healing Art.—Medicine largely Theurgic.—Magic and Sorcery forbidden to the Laity.—The Embalmers.—Anatomy.—Therapeutics.—Plants in use in Ancient Egypt.—Surgery and Chemistry.—Disease-demons.—Medical Papyri.—Great Skill of Egyptian Physicians. So far as we are able to judge from the records of the past which recent investigations have made familiar to us, the civilization of Egypt is the most ancient of which we have accurate knowledge. The contending claims of India to a higher antiquity for its civilization cannot here be discussed, and for the purposes of this work the oldest place in the civilization of the world must be assigned to Egypt. It is highly probable that the first kingdom of Egypt existed eight thousand years back. The history of Egypt as we have it in her monuments and records is far more trustworthy than the stories which the Chinese and other ancient peoples tell of their past. Assyria, Babylonia, and Chaldæa have histories reaching back to the twilight of the ages; but for practical purposes we must content ourselves with tracing the rise and progress of civilization as we decipher it on the banks of the Nile. So far as medicine and chemistry are concerned, we shall discover abundant matter to interest us. We require no other proof than the mummies in our museums to convince us that the Egyptians from the period at which those interesting objects date must have possessed a very accurate knowledge of anatomy, of pharmacy, and a skill in surgical bandaging very far surpassing that possessed now-a-days by even the most skilful professors of the art. Dr. Granville says: “There is not a single form of bandage known to modern surgery, of which far better and cleverer examples are not seen in the swathings of the Egyptian mummies. The strips of linen are found without one single joint, extending to 1000 yards in length.” It is said that there is not a fracture known to modern surgery which could not have been successfully treated by the priest-physicians of ancient Egypt. The great divinities of Egypt were Isis and Osiris; the former was the goddess of procreation and birth. As it was she who decreed life and death, and decided the fate of men, it is not surprising to find her the chief of the divinities of the healing art; she had proved her claims as the great chief of physicians by recalling to life her son Horus.