Chapter
III
DISEASE is a universal phenomenon as old as man himself. It is a MONUMENTAL FACT of ALL history! Hardly any other facet of human experience has so affected the
daily lives of men, past and present!
Yet, until the Twentieth Century,
scientific data on the incidence of disease in history was sketchy. In fact, “we [had] . . . no knowledge
whatever of the early incidence of
illness in large sections of the globe.
[However], the MAIN CONCLUSION drawn from [recent] paleopathological
studies, [is] . . . that the phenomenon
of disease is very old and that disease
has always occurred in the same basic forms . . .” (Sigerist, A History of Medicine, p. 67).
Discoveries have now provided us
with significant information as to the ancient incidence of disease in the major, heavily populated, areas of the
world. When analyzed, the conclusion of the above quotation is a
startling statement!
History
bears out the fact that the disease “which hath been, it is that which shall be.” There is a reason for this, which will be
explained later.
Herodotus stated, Egypt “swarms with
medical practitioners.” All historians now must concur! It stands to reason there was sufficient
cause for such a plethora of physicians.
Disease must have been rampant, but is
there any proof? Is it possible to
substantiate Sigerist’s statement (supra.
p. 67)? Furthermore, can it be
demonstrated that ancient Egypt suffered the same curses of disease so prevalent today?
The work of Sir Marc Armand Ruffer, the man who founded paleopathology, now becomes important — and fascinating! Additional work in this revolutionary field
of the study of disease has helped piece together the amazing picture of ancient diseases.
As previously mentioned, Ruffer’s
interests lay in the identification of disease through the record contained in
ancient mummies. This proved to be a
rich source of information. Initially,
it was found that Egyptian skeletons, dating back to the Old Kingdom, were an
eloquent catalogue of structural
abnormalities! These abnormalities
indicate to the expert specific diseases. Many thousands of mummy skeletons have been
found with misshapen bones: such
malformations as can result from chronic
rheumatism. As common as such
specimens were, rheumatism evidently afflicted an extraordinarily large number
of persons throughout the course of Egyptian history. According to the skeletal record, Ruffer found that periostitis and osteomyletis — inflammations of the marrow of the bones, which left
distinct traces — were nearly as frequently encountered by these people.
Congenital deformities of the skeletal structure were rarely found, though examples of club foot and similar defects have been
discovered — at least to the extent that it is known they suffered somewhat
from such a “modern” malady. There may
indeed have been certain deformities of the fleshy part of the body, which, of
course, would have disappeared with its deterioration.
However, severe cases of diseases of the teeth, jaw,
and gums were prevalent! Again, this is a pathological disturbance,
which would be readily recorded in the skeletal structure. These ancient peoples apparently suffered
ALL THE MODERN DENTAL PROBLEMS! For
example, paradentosis, dental caries, and
erosion of dental enamel exposing the
nerves, which lead to inflammation and
abscesses were definitely identified
(see Byran, The Papyrus Ebers, p.
xxviii).
Though dental problems were
tragically common in the later ages of Egypt, such was not the case in the
early dynasties where dental caries are rarely encountered. As is the experience in our age today,
dental problems anciently increased with the refinement of foods. In all ages, the cause of this malady lies
in improper diet. By the later periods
in Egyptian history, dental disease afflicted a considerable portion of the
populace, at least as commonly as it occurs today.
Another of Ruffer’s significant contributions to paleopathology
was a technique for analyzing the dehydrated and centuries-old body tissue of
the mummies. His technique involved
soaking the hardened tissues in a solution of three parts alcohol, five parts
water, and two parts of a soda solution.
He succeeded in restoring the tissue to a degree sufficient for laboratory
analysis. Experimenting with his
development, he was able to describe smallpox
lesions on the parched skin of an ancient mummy! And from Ruffer’s day to the present, techniques have continued
to improve. In fact, in 1939 scientists
were able to begin determining the blood
groups of Egyptians who had died several thousand years ago!
Using this method of restoration to
advantage, a vast new area of paleopathology had opened wide to the
Egyptologists. A well-known religious
tradition was to provide the inspiration for further study. Egyptians practiced the rite of committing
their internal organs to the care of patron deities. These were preserved
along with a small representation of the idol in canopic jars. Once carefully sealed these jars effectively
preserved their contents for Ruffer and others to examine centuries later!
Ruffer announced the results of
microscopic analysis of the restored kidneys of two mummies, dating back at
least 1000 years B.C. The scientist had
found conclusive evidence of the dreaded parasitical disease of the Nile
Valley: bilharzia! This disease was
so named after the nineteenth century German doctor Bilharz who reputedly
“first explained the disease.” Far from
being a modern disease, it was an age-old plague of the Nile Valley.
Such discoveries fired their
interest! Once verified, the pursuit
for evidence of other bacterial diseases was relentless. Their efforts were not to be denied for ancient Egypt was plagued with disease!
It was not long until Ruffer was
able to demonstrate the presence of staphylococci bacteria in his restored
tissues. This was a significant
breakthrough in the study of disease! Indeed, these ages apparently suffered
the same ravages of more recent eras!
It was not surprising, then, though no less remarkable a discovery, when
he located the red-shaped form of the plague
bacilli. As we shall later see,
EPIDEMICS posed a frightful problem at the earliest times in the Earth’s
history after the Flood.
Initially, the search for a similar
historical record of tuberculosis
proved fruitless. Extraordinary
obstacles opposed this investigation.
Extremely fragile, this bacilli disappears soon after death. In addition, the specimens of mummified
lungs were too few to allow the formation of a stable conclusion to the
presence or absence of tuberculosis.
However, astounding pulmonary
discoveries were destined to appear!
Ruffer located a case of anthracosis
in a human being. Continuing in their
examination of the preserved lungs pneumonia
and pleurisy were detected. Eventually positive evidence of tuberculosis
might appear.
Yet in 1910, a particularly
productive year, Ruffer examined the mummy of a priest who apparently lived
about 1000 B.C. This individual
evidenced the typical curvature of the spine associated with Pott’s disease. Continuing his examination through the means of restored
tissue, Ruffer found the remains of an extensive abscess in the lumbar
muscle. A typical symptom of this
disease is the accumulation of tubercular pus in this area. The abcess, no doubt, contained tubercular
pus! A conclusive inference could now
be drawn: where Pott’s disease was so common, tuberculosis of the lungs must
have existed!
Henceforth, there could be little
doubt that tuberculosis had
registered its effect in Egypt. Later
it was directly proved that the disease had carried off whole families. Parents and their children were found buried
side by side — all victims of spinal
tuberculosis or meningitis.
Pressing the investigation, Ruffer
later found gallstones in the liver
of a mummy dating to the 21st Dynasty. He also proved a singer of the 12th Dynasty showed
signs of chronic gallbladder
inflammation. Certain typical
adhesions of that area of the intestines indicated that appendicitis was a reality of ancient Egypt. The following year, 1911, Ruffer reportedly
found a case of cirrhosis of the liver. Was alcoholism a problem in those days too?
Two years earlier, in 1909, Elliot
Smith and his colleague, Derry, examined a mummy from Nubia of apparently a
late date. However, the skin of the
hands and feet of this man showed definite signs of leprosy. So evident was the
disfigurement of the ancient man, Mr. Smith later published photographs of this
case.
The Ebers Papyrus makes ample reference to the various forms of diarrhea, including such serious cases as amoebic dysentery, gastro enteritis, and cholera!
Sufficient evidence was also found
to indicate the occasional presence of typhoid
fever and malaria. No doubt these highly serious ailments
resulted from indiscriminate use and care of the Nile.
Further investigation of the
preserved mummies was to show that tonsillitis
was known among the Egyptians. Careful examination of the intestines brought to light another
“modern” ailment. Egyptians, too,
suffered from a form of constipation
called “sheep feces” — a pellet-like form of bowel movement produced by
intestinal cramps. Such an affliction
indicates a type of life parallel to what we experience today. This type of constipation is regarded as
being due to disturbances of the central nervous system, and commonly arises
from the rush and agitation of a nerve-racking life. In this respect the two societies certainly parallel one another!
As a result of their highly
original, persistent, and extensive investigations, the conclusion rightly reached by Ruffer and his associates, was that ALL INTESTINAL
DISEASES OF MODERN TIMES OCCURRED IN ANCIENT EGYPT! The mummies had revealed an understanding of the history of
disease that had never been remotely imagined in recent times.
At this point most will admit that
there was disease in Egypt. But the
skeptic will ask, what about the really serious maladies of our age: heart and vascular ailment, polio, and cancer? These are the diseases, which characterize
our day and are produced by the conditions in a modern society, the tensions of
a technical age. Surely there are no
case histories of these modern scourges in Egypt!
As astounding as it may be to us, there were just such cases! Our age has taken the view that arterial
diseases are products only of our
present civilization. However, similar
intemperance, tensions, and hectic pressures of everyday life will produce the
same results in any age. Extensive
diagnosis of the bodies of dead Egyptians has uncovered a major, modern ailment
common to both ages: arteriosclerosis. Egyptians from all eras endured arterial
diseases in no way different from today’s examples (see Castiglioni, A History of Medicine, p. 47)!
Even great kings and queens of
bygone eras suffered abnormalities of the blood vessels. Prominence of the temple vessels is
particularly striking in many mummies — indicating, even to the unpracticed eye
of the layman, a serious degenerative
condition!
Ruffer
was anxious to determine the cause for the general occurrence of
arteriosclerosis in Egypt. He studied
all the known causes of arterial maladies to determine if any similar problem
was the reason for Egypt’s disease. He
learned that the Egyptians were well known for their over-indulgence in alcohol
and food. Apparently, the incidence of
alcoholism and gluttony was high. Given
to banqueting and excess, some Egyptians followed the practice of vomiting
after each course during a feast to make possible further enjoyment at the
table.
This knowledge of their excessive
dietary habits gave Ruffer and his colleagues a clue, which could be followed
up in the laboratory. They pursued
their investigations. Examination of
the skin, especially the ample folds of the skin, of royalty, revealed these
people had been extremely fat.
The idealized portraits of a lean people which
the Egyptian artists created have given posterity a completely false picture of
the Egyptians, just as the idealized statues of Greece later distorted the
actual appearance of the Greeks (Thorwald, Science
and Secrets of Early Medicine, p. 43).
Here was a decadent physical
weakness, which linked the arterial diseases of Egypt to modern times: obesity.
Their arterial and cardio-vascular
diseases were no doubt partially brought on by continual excesses of food and
drink with its resultant obesity.
There is also reason to believe the
incidence of angina pectoris and the
present-day female ailment, varicose
veins were also common.
Infantile Paralysis: A stele depicting a crippled servant
of the 18th Dynasty (circa 1000 B.C.) shows serious malformation of
the man’s right leg — evidently a result of some type of paralysis. This record of such a condition is not an
isolated case. At the turn of the
century, J.K. Mitchell discovered a mummy who had suffered from a similar
paralysis during its lifetime. Even the
dead man’s walking stick had been buried with him. After a detailed study, Mitchell made the startling suggestion
the man’s lameness had been the result of infantile
paralysis!
Such evidence is, of itself, not
conclusive proof. However, some ten
years after this assertion, W.R. Dawson and a team of other specialists
investigated the afore-mentioned stele of Ruma the servant and the theory of
Mr. Mitchell. These men, too, concluded
that the two cases probably did indicate the incidence of poliomyelitis in ancient Egypt (see Smith, Elliot & Dawson, Egyptian Mummies).
Cancer: In 1825 A.B. Granville, a predecessor
of Ruffer, had discovered an isolated case of a malignant tumor in an ancient
mummy. Knowing of this earlier find,
Ruffer was determined to prove cancer indigenous to Egypt. Comparatively little evidence was ever
found. However, that which was
discovered was enlightening. The
mummies at least revealed the incidence of osteosarcoma
— a highly malignant cancer of the bone!
Several such tumors were found in the skeletons of mummies from the 5th
Dynasty at the Giza Pyramids (circa 1600 B.C.). Evidence of only two other types of this malignant disease was
found — cancer of the pharynx and of
the rectum (see Bryan, The Papyrus Ebers, p. xxvi).
It logically follows, as in the instance of tuberculosis, that if the skeletal structure was subject to cancer, there is good reason
to assume that other organs were afflicted with similar malignancies!
So Ruffer’s work in ancient
pathology changed the experts’ opinion about the health of ancient Egypt
overnight. This anciently inhabited
land along the Nile had been seriously
afflicted with the most modern diseases as early as the 1st
Dynasty — the Old Kingdom.
Such a display of disease and death
— not to mention the additional requirements of war — demanded an adequate medical practice to attempt its control. As
Herodotus stated, the
Egyptian doctors were
specialists. It is obvious they had to be, to attempt to handle such a ravage of the human
body!
Inscriptions on tombs indicate the
highly specialized nature of early medicine.
There was a “Guardian of the Royal Bowel Movement,” a “Guardian of the
Royal Nose,” an “Eye Doctor of the Palace,” a “Doctor of the Abdomen,” and
etc. Such diversity of practice
indicates these ancient peoples had
staged a monumental effort to control disease through a COMPETENT medical
faculty.
This is the fascinating story of the
following chapter!
Chapter 4
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