User:Jarvey2/sandbox

Ancient Egyptian medicine == Pharmacology == Like many civilizations in the past the Ancient Egyptians amply discovered the medicinal properties of the plant life around them. In the Edwin Papyrus there are many recipes to help heal different ailments. In a small section of this papyrus there are five recipes one dealing with problems women may have had, three on techniques for refining the complexion, and the fifth recipe for ailments that deal with the colon. The Ancient Egyptians were known to use "Honey...for its medicinal properties...and the juice of pomegranates served as both an astringent and a delicacy." In the Ebers Papyrus there are over 800 remedies some were topical like ointments, and wrappings, others were taken orally like pills and mouth rinses, still others were taken through inhalation. The recipes to cure constipation consisted of berries from the castor oil tree, Male Palm, and Gengent beans just to name a few. One recipe that was to help headaches called for "inner-of-onion, fruit-of-the-am-tree, natron, setseft-seeds, bone-of-the-sword-fish, cooked, redfish, cooked, skull-of-crayfish, cooked, honey, and abra-ointment." Some of the recommended treatments made use of cannabis and incense. “Egyptian medicinal use of plants in antiquity is known to be extensive, with some 160 distinct plant products…” Amidst the many plant extracts and fruits the Egyptians also used animal feces and even some metals as treatments. These prescriptions of antiquity were measured out by volume not weight which makes their prescription making craft more like cooking than what Pharmacists do today. While their treatments and herbal remedies seem almost boundless, they still included incantations along with some therapeutic remedies.9