ANCIENT EGYPTIANS AND MODERN ...ANCIENT EGYPTIANS AND MODERN MEDICINE, Antropologia
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
//-->JAMA 100 YEARS AGOAPRIL 15, 1911ANCIENT EGYPTIANS AND MODERN MEDICINEWhen, in 1907, it was decided to increase the height ofthe great dam at Assuan, the Egyptian government soughtto lessen, as far as possible, the destruction of the monu-ments and relics of ancient life on the Nile, by securing forscientific study as much as possible of the most valuablematerial which would be submerged by the rise of thewaters. Numerous cemeteries on both banks of the riverwere explored, and no less than 6,000 bodies, representingburials during a period of 5,000 years, became available forstudy. Dr. Elliot Smith, professor of anatomy in the medicalschool at Cairo, who had already done much work withsimilar material, was in charge of the anthropological inves-tigations, and largely because of his understanding ofpathology the results as reported contain much of medicalinterest.1It seems that even six thousand years ago, in predynastictimes, the population of the Nile valley was comparativelyhighly civilized, so that the history of civilization must goback much farther than the sixty centuries it can now befollowed. During all that time man has been afflicted by atleast some of the same diseases from which he now suffers,although perhaps not to the same degree. Professor Smithfound no positive evidence of syphilis in the Nubians;tuberculosis was apparently uncommon, and the character-istic skeletal changes of rachitis were not observed. Rheu-matoid arthritis seems to have been prevalent, especially inpredynastic times. Urinary calculi were occasionally found,and one predynastic calculus analyzed by Shattock wasfound to be composed of a central body of urates and ashell of phosphates, indicating that six thousand years ago,as now, urate calculi caused cystitis and ammoniacaldecomposition of the urine. TheMicrococcus ureæis prob-ably quite as old as civilization. Fibrous adhesions aroundthe appendix give the lie to jests about the “new-fangled fadof appendicitis.” Gout left its traces in the form of “chalkstones” then as now; but caries of the teeth did not make itsappearance until the early dynasties, first being found inthe wealthier classes, and not becoming common to themasses until Christian times. Surely there was at this timeno change from whole wheat to white flour—the cause towhich our British colleagues are now ascribing the modernprevalence of dental troubles.The chemists have also examined mummy material tosome extent. Embalming as practiced by the Egyptians con-sisted simply in removing most of the viscera, pickling withsalt, and letting the dry climate do the rest. Such preservedtissues, even after centuries, retain some of their originalcharacteristics. When softened by soaking in weak alkalithe different organs can be identified; the tubules of thekidney and the different layers of the skin are still recogniz-able (Ruffer).2A desiccated heart contained in a vase in theLouvre, and supposed to have been the circulatory centerof Rameses II about thirty-one centuries ago, was found toshow still the structure characteristic of cardiac muscle.3The fatty elements seem to resist chemical change espe-cially well, and infiltrate the tissues in replacement of thedecomposing elements.4The proteins remain in small partapparently unaltered and coagulable by heat, although theyare largely decomposed into proteoses and other cleavageproducts. In the mummified tissues the usual amino-acidsof proteins can be found.5It would seem that the biologiccharacteristics of the proteins are lost before the chemical,for most of the attempts to secure the precipitin reactionwith mummy proteins have been unsuccessful. Only withthe extremely delicate anaphylaxis reaction can the humanorigin of mummy tissues be established.61. The Archeological Survey of Nubia, 1907-8, vol. ii, Drs. G. Elliot Smith and F.Wood Jones. A full review is given in Nature, 1910, lxxxv, 310.2. Ruffer, M. A.: Histology of Egyptian Mummies, Brit. Med. Jour., April 24, 1909.3. Brit. Med. Jour., April 28. 1906.4. Schmidt: Ztschr. f. allg. Physiol., 1907, vii. 369.5. Abderhalden and Brahm: Ztschr. f. physiol. Chem., 1909, ixi,4.6. Uhlenhuth: Ztschr. f. Immunitatsforsch., 1910, iv, 774.JAMA.1911;56(15):1110Editor’s Note:JAMA 100 Years Ago is transcribed verbatim from articles pub-lished a century ago, unless otherwise noted.JAMA 100 Years Ago Section Editor:Jennifer Reiling, Assistant Editor.1602JAMA,April 20, 2011—Vol 305, No. 15©2011 American Medical Association. All rights reserved. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ] |
Podobne
|