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The Ebers Papyrus is an Egyptian medical papyrus of herbal knowledge dating to c. 1550 BC. It is among the oldest and most important medical papyri of ancient Egypt. The papyrus contains chapters on contraception, diagnosis of pregnancy and other gynecological matters, intestinal disease and parasites, eye and skin problems, dentistry and the surgical treatment of abscesses and tumors, bone-setting and burns. (Wikipedia: “Ebers Papyrus”)
This document dates from around the time of Moses and the Exodus. It gives us a glimpse into the medical practice of what was the most advanced civilization in the world at that time. Here is a prescription for baldness: apply a mixture of six fats . . . [from] the horse, the hippopotamus, the crocodile, the cat, the snake, and the [wild goat]. There are hundreds of other prescriptions which include ingredients like statue dust, beetle shells, mouse tails, cat hair, pig eyes, dog toes, breast milk, human semen, eel eyes, and goose guts. To deal with a splinter, the ancient Egyptian physicians would apply a salve of worm blood and donkey dung. (None of These Diseases, pp. 9, 10)
The Edwin Smith Papyrus is an ancient Egyptian medical text, named after the dealer who bought it in 1862, and the oldest known surgical treatise on trauma. This document, which may have been a manual of military surgery, describes 48 cases of injuries, fractures, wounds, dislocations and tumors. It dates to 1600 BCE. (Wikipedia: “Edwin Smith Papyrus”)
Ancient Egyptians thought epidemics were caused by “disease demons.” The Smith Papyrus provides this formula for protection. It was to be chanted while a person had two vulture feathers held over him: “O Flame-in-His-Face! . . . O Nekhbet, lifting the earth to the sky for her father, come thou, bind the two feathers around me, around me, that I may live and flourish because I possess this White One. . . . O Seizer-of-the-Great-One, son of Sekhmet, mightiest of the mighty, son of the Disease-Demon, . . . flooder of the streams; when thou voyagest in the celestial Ocean, when thou sailest in the morning barque, thou hast saved me from every sickness.” (None of These Diseases, pp. 13, 14)
It was at this time in history when God gave the simple guidelines for infection control contained in the Torah (quarantine, bathing, laundering, etc.) that have promoted health among the Jews for 3500 years. And when medical practitioners have applied them during times of serious epidemics and health complications, they have proved to be effective and with no current medical misconceptions.