Kemetic Medicine-gctid52585

[Agbede]

Egyptian Medicine

Hunter Adams
In discussions of the history of medicine, almost all books cite its earliest beginnings with the Greeks, Hippocrates and Galen. Rarely, if ever, do they mention that Hippocratic therapeutics had direct antecedents in Egyptian medicine. Professor Charles S. Finch at Atlanta University, Morehouse School of Medicine points out that: "Not only was the most important Greek healing deity, Asclepios, identified with the legendary Egyptian physician-architect, aphorist Imhotep, but the city-state of Athens used to import Egyptian physicians, as did most of the kingdoms of the Near East."³³ Egyptian physicians, male and female, were instructed in the" per ankh," or House of Life, which served as a school, university, library, medical school, clinic, temple, and seminary. They were writing medical textbooks as early as 5,000 years ago. However, much of the training and instruction of the healing priests was transmitted orally as is done throughout Kmt even today.

Ancient Egyptian diagnostic methods are strikingly similar to contemporary ones. A physician would begin with a careful appraisal of the patient's general appearance. This would be followed by a series of questions carefully designed to elicit specific responses describing the complaint. They noted physical conditions such as the color of the face and eyes, the quality of nasal secretions, the presence of perspiration, the stiffness of limbs or abdomen, and the condition of the skin. The physician was also at pains to notice the smell of the body, sweat, breath, and wounds. The urine and feces were checked, the pulse palpated and measured, and the abdomen, swellings, and wounds probed and palpated. The pulse-taking is very significant because it indicates that they knew of its circulatory and hemodynamic importance. Palpation of the abdomen and chest was performed along with certain functional tests we still use today, such as coughing for hernia detection and the extension-flexion maneuver of the legs for a dislocated lumbar vertebrae.

Out of perhaps hundreds of medical papyri, only ten are presently known such as the Ebers and Edwin Smith, yet these few give a vivid picture of the depth of Egyptian knowledge of anatomy and physiology. During the Old Kingdom (3000 B.C.E.) they had a good understanding of how the cardiovascular system functioned and the relationship between it and the respiratory system. They also knew the relationship between the nervous system and voluntary movements. They named and described all these systems, including the kidneys, uterus, bladder, and digestive tract. Finch also points out that the Egyptians were well-versed in many pathological syndromes. They understood the origin of paralysis from spinal-cord injuries and recognized the traumatic origin of neurological symptoms such as deafness and urinary incontinence; they described many syndromes as being of cardiac origin. They also recognized the significance of heart palpations and arrhythmias and gave a rather precise definition of angina pectoris:

"If you examine a man for illness in his cardia and he has pain in his arms, in his breast, and on one side of his cardia ... it is death threatening him."

The Egyptians diagnosed and treated trans-material disturbances. To the minds of the Egyptians, in fact, to most Kmtyw people, all elements' of life, whether human beings, animals, plants, gods, and even inanimate matter such as stones and stars, are imbued with a trans-material primordial energy. The ancient Egyptians call this creative energy "za" (known as "prana" to the Hindus and "chi" to the Chinese), which human beings, under special conditions, could manipulate. The god Heka was also the personification of this energy. They understood man's vital essence, the spirit, to be contained in a net of energy: the body.³⁴ Thus, in the process of healing, the psi-physician/priest actually sought to restore the energetic integrity and harmony of the ill person. By the laying-on-of-hands, he or she could transfer their "za" which they received from the Pharaoh, who in turn received his "za" from the sun, to the patient.

This "magico-spiritual" aspect of Kmtyw medicine still baffles Western-trained scholars and practitioners, and as such is dismissed, belittled, or downplayed. However, recent research is uncovering the "hard" evidence of the validity of this aspect of Kmtyw medicine: instruments which measure the extremely weak magnetic fields of the body have demonstrated the reality of that laying-on-of-hands healing modality. Furthermore, more than 30,000 physicians, nurses, psychologists, and other health practitioners world-wide have been taught a variant form of the ancient Egyptian laying-on-of-hands procedure called "therapeutic touch," developed by Doloris Krieger, M.D. and a professor at New York University School of Education, Health, Nursing, and Arts Professions.³⁵ Therapeutic Touch has been shown in controlled experiments, in hospitals and clinics, to enhance the body's immune system's functioning, lower blood pressure, and help the patient relax, thus reducing stress. Contemporary^-medicine is now beginning to discover what Kmtyw people have always known, that treatment of man's trans-material nature was central to the healing process.

Experiments have also shown, for example, that our thoughts play a major role in our mental-physical health and behavior via nervous/immune-endocrine system inter-actions. Furthermore, it is generally accepted by contemporary medicine that close to 60 percent of all illnesses have trans-material origins. California biological psychiatrist Richard King's evaluation of the Egyptians' knowledge of the brain [Fig. 25], particularly the limbic system and the pineal gland, the "seat of the soul," indicates they diagnosed and treated trans-material illnesses. There is evidence that they knew how light effects the pineal gland. They also used sunlight-activated plant dyes for healing skin disorders such as psoriasis.
Imhotep, the world's first master multidisciplinarian - high priest, poet, astronomer, architect of the stepped pyramid of the Third Dynasty Pharaoh Zoser, and other stone buildings at Saqquara, and royal physician - the "true" father of medicine -developed the first theory of heredity around 2850 B.C. He said a child acquires qualities of the parent through the semen of the father; this was the basis of the royal family's selective marriage policies. During the Greek period of Egyptian history, Hippocrates (the so-called father of medicine) further developed Imhotep's thesis.³⁶

The Egyptians were one of the few people of antiquity to develop specialized medicine. For example, there was a separate guild of bone-setters who treated fractures and dislocations; of surgeons; doctors for the eye, teeth, belly, obstetric and gynecological problems, and the "hidden diseases" [Fig. 26]. From their more than 4,000 years of experience dissecting and bandaging mummies, their surgical technique benefited greatly. They had an array of knives and scalpels to excise tumors and drain abscesses. Majno states they even had the first disposable blades made from reeds.³⁷ They used red-hot metal instruments to seal off bleeding wounds. They had a large number of adhesives, mainly from gum and acacia trees and several types of resin. They were used to fasten linen bandages. They used molds from bread and cereals to treat wound infection; this indicates their knowledge of certain molds' bacterial properties. The embalmers were the specialists in using plants that had antibacterial properties; they found garlic, onions, and honey to be effective to varying degrees. After treatment of a serious wound, adhesive tapes would then be used to close the wound, just as they are used today.

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