Their juice was prized as a drink but can also be used as an astringent to shrink tissues and reduce swelling in wounds. Pomegranates were introduced into Egypt from western Asia in the New Kingdom. There are three categories of injuries-'an ailment I will handle' (describing injuries for which a known cure existed) 'an ailment I will fight with' (denoting one whose treatment was less certain) and 'and ailment for which nothing is done' (meaning one for which no practical treatment was known). The injuries listed are consistent with those sustained in war or construction. The work includes descriptions, examination procedures, diagnoses, and practical treatments for forty-eight distinct injuries, beginning at the top of the head and ending at the shoulder blades and chest. On the basis of the handwriting, it has been dated to about 1600 B.C., but on the basis of language (and errors in transcription), the work is believed to be a copy of another text that was written some three centuries earlier. Allen of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.The Edwin Smith Papyrus is named after its original owner, Edwin Smith, an American Egyptologist (1822–1906) who purchased it in Luxor in 1862. When you click on the text button on the site you see the new translation of that portion of the papyrus made by James P. ♦ You can scroll through a virtual scroll of the Edwin Smith papyrus on the website of the National Library of Medicine at. The physiological functions of organs and vessels remained a complete mystery to the ancient Egyptians.' Other vessels are described, some carrying air, some mucus, while two to the right ear are said to carry the breath of life, and two to the left ear the breath of death. The papyrus shows that the heart, vessels, liver, spleen, kidneys, ureters and bladder were recognized, and that the blood vessels were known to be connected to the heart. It contains the first known descriptions of the cranial sutures, the meninges, the external surface of the brain, the cerebrospinal fluid, and the intracranial pulsations. 'The papyrus also describes anatomical observations in exquisite detail. The use of magic for treatment is resorted to in only one case (Case 9). Immobilisation was often advised for head and spinal cord injuries, which is still in practice today in the short-term treatment of some injuries. Among the treatments are closing wounds with sutures (for wounds of the lip, throat, and shoulder), preventing and curing infection with honey and mouldy bread, and stopping bleeding with raw meat. 'The text begins by addressing injuries to the head, and continues with treatments for injuries to neck, arms and torso, where the text breaks off.

In 1948, the New York Historical Society and the Brooklyn Museum presented the papyrus to the New York Academy of Medicine, where it is preserved today. From 1938 through 1948, the papyrus was at the Brooklyn Museum. After Smith's death in 1906 his daughter donated the papyrus to New York Historical Society. Coincidentally, Smith was born in Connecticut in 1822 – the same year Egyptian hieroglyphic was decoded by Champollion. Sometime in the 19th century it was cut into 17 columns.

In 1862 it was purchased in Luxor, Egypt by Edwin Smith, an American Egyptologist and collector and dealer in antiquities. When the papyrus was discovered it was about 15 feet long in roll or scroll form. Written in the hieratic script of the ancient Egyptian language, it is based on material from a thousand years earlier. It consists of a list of 48 traumatic injury cases, with a description of the physical examination, treatment and prognosis of each. The Edwin Smith Papyrus, the most detailed and sophisticated of the extant medical papyri, is the only surviving copy of part of an ancient Egyptian textbook on trauma surgery, and the world's oldest surgical treatise.

Edwin smith papyrus author