JAMA 100 YEARS AGO

APRIL 15, 1911

ANCIENT EGYPTIANS AND MODERN MEDICINE

When, in 1907, it was decided to increase the height of

the great dam at Assuan, the Egyptian government sought
to lessen, as far as possible, the destruction of the monu-
ments and relics of ancient life on the Nile, by securing for
scientific study as much as possible of the most valuable
material which would be submerged by the rise of the
waters. Numerous cemeteries on both banks of the river
were explored, and no less than 6,000 bodies, representing
burials during a period of 5,000 years, became available for
study. Dr. Elliot Smith, professor of anatomy in the medical
school at Cairo, who had already done much work with
similar material, was in charge of the anthropological inves-
tigations, and largely because of his understanding of
pathology the results as reported contain much of medical
interest.

1

It seems that even six thousand years ago, in predynastic

times, the population of the Nile valley was comparatively
highly civilized, so that the history of civilization must go
back much farther than the sixty centuries it can now be
followed. During all that time man has been afflicted by at
least some of the same diseases from which he now suffers,
although perhaps not to the same degree. Professor Smith
found 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 in
predynastic times. Urinary calculi were occasionally found,
and one predynastic calculus analyzed by Shattock was
found to be composed of a central body of urates and a
shell of phosphates, indicating that six thousand years ago,
as now, urate calculi caused cystitis and ammoniacal
decomposition of the urine. The Micrococcus ureæ is prob-
ably quite as old as civilization. Fibrous adhesions around
the appendix give the lie to jests about the “new-fangled fad
of appendicitis.” Gout left its traces in the form of “chalk
stones” then as now; but caries of the teeth did not make its
appearance until the early dynasties, first being found in
the wealthier classes, and not becoming common to the

masses until Christian times. Surely there was at this time
no change from whole wheat to white flour—the cause to
which our British colleagues are now ascribing the modern
prevalence of dental troubles.

The chemists have also examined mummy material to

some extent. Embalming as practiced by the Egyptians con-
sisted simply in removing most of the viscera, pickling with
salt, and letting the dry climate do the rest. Such preserved
tissues, even after centuries, retain some of their original
characteristics. When softened by soaking in weak alkali
the different organs can be identified; the tubules of the
kidney and the different layers of the skin are still recogniz-
able (Ruffer).

2

A desiccated heart contained in a vase in the

Louvre, and supposed to have been the circulatory center
of Rameses II about thirty-one centuries ago, was found to
show still the structure characteristic of cardiac muscle.

3

The fatty elements seem to resist chemical change espe-
cially well, and infiltrate the tissues in replacement of the
decomposing elements.

4

The proteins remain in small part

apparently unaltered and coagulable by heat, although they
are largely decomposed into proteoses and other cleavage
products. In the mummified tissues the usual amino-acids
of proteins can be found.

5

It would seem that the biologic

characteristics of the proteins are lost before the chemical,
for most of the attempts to secure the precipitin reaction
with mummy proteins have been unsuccessful. Only with
the extremely delicate anaphylaxis reaction can the human
origin of mummy tissues be established.

6

1. 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):1110

Editor’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.

1602 JAMA,

April 20, 2011—Vol 305, No. 15

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