The Healing Arts

Medicine and surgery were both advanced and respected in ancient Egypt - so respected that Pharaoh Atothis is supposed to have written a book on anatomy in around 3000 BC. Nine medical treatises have survived. One, the oldest surviving book of surgery in the world, contains details of 48 operations, among them trepanning - boring a hole in the skull to relieve pressure in the brain. Others contain medical advice which is largely based on superstition, but they also list drugs which are still familiar, such as castor oil, wormwood, sodium bicarbonate, and arsenic. Egyptian doctors even used adhesive plaster on wounds.