The addition of the illustrations will help the nonmedical reader understand what the various injuries represent--as always a 'picture is worth a thousand words. Goodrich, M. Professor of Clinical Neurosurgery, Pediatrics, Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery Albert Einstein College of Medicine "Sanchez and Meltzer have performed a minor miracle, producing a new edition of Papyrus Edwin Smith that surpasses all previous efforts at translating and understanding this difficult and fascinating text.
Meltzer has taken full advantage of this opportunity to test the Standard Theory of Egyptian grammar against a text that is perfect for the task. His translation remains lucid for a beginner while the grammatical notes are thought-provoking for professionals. This book is truly an important accomplishment in the history of translation and our understanding of medical history. The eminent scholars, Gonzalo M. Sanchez, a distinguished neurosurgeon and strong contributor to the field of Egyptology, and Edmund S.
Meltzer, a noted philologist, have teamed up to bring modern neuroscience and sophisticated advances in the interpretation of ancient Egyptian texts to bear on new case translations and commentaries. The authors convincingly demonstrate that the approach to treatment of trauma in ancient Egypt was very much in keeping with modern concepts of medical-surgical care. Not only will this sumptuous Lockwood Press volume fascinate clinical neuroscientists, Egyptologists, and historians of science, it will bring new audiences to this remarkable document.
This is a complete publication, which provides students and scholars with a facsimile of the original hieratic text, an accurate transcription of the hieratic, a modern translation and exhaustive philological commentary, and--particularly important for non-Egyptologists--an expert medical commentary by an experienced neurosurgeon. This is a milestone not only for Egyptology, but for the history of science and of medicine. The Smith Papyrus was written in Egyptian hieratic script around the 17th century BCE, but probably based on material from a thousand years earlier.
Each case is laid out using a carefully prescribed formula: a description of the injury; diagnosis; prognosis; treatment; and further explanations of the case, which resemble footnotes. This papyrus is unlike most other medical papyri in that it is chiefly rational and does not usually bring the supernatural into the explanations or treatments for injuries-for instance; there is only one incantation.
A digital facsimile created by the National Library of Medicine in reconstructs the scroll from 17 panels into which it was cut in the 19th century, and represents the red and black calligraphy on a simulated scroll, with zoom feature and pop-up commentary within the text. It includes, for example, an early word for "brain", and the surgeon repeatedly, because of his scientific interest in the observable facts, discusses cases of injured men whom he has no hope of saving.
Volume 1 contains a historical introduction to the document, followed by translation and commentary. As Egyptian civilization declined during the next millennium, the teachings of the Papyrus would be lost. It would not be until B. It is believed that the ancient Greeks had knowledge of the contents of the Edwin Smith Papyrus and its teachings and used them as the basis for their writings. As Europe entered the Dark Ages, so did medicine yet again, reverting to spells and prayers instead of judgment and reason.
How it came into the possession of the New York Historical Society, lay many years virtually unnoticed, was at length "rediscovered" and brought to Dr. Breasted's attention, and finally under his close scrutiny has revealed itself as the oldest known scientific treatise surviving from the ancient world, is described in the Introduction to one of the most illuminating glimpses we have ever had into the astonishingly developed medical knowledge of ancient Egypt. Both to the medical profession and to the lay reader the Surgical Papyrus will be of intense interest.
It contains, for example, for the first time in human speech a word for "brain.
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