Viggen Posted May 11, 2007 Report Share Posted May 11, 2007 Scientists examining documents dating back 3,500 years say they have found proof that the origins of modern medicine lie in ancient Egypt and not with Hippocrates and the Greeks. The research team from the KNH Centre for Biomedical Egyptology at The University of Manchester discovered the evidence in medical papyri written in 1,500BC Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew Dalby Posted May 12, 2007 Report Share Posted May 12, 2007 Scientists examining documents dating back 3,500 years say they have found proof that the origins of modern medicine lie in ancient Egypt and not with Hippocrates and the Greeks. The research team from the KNH Centre for Biomedical Egyptology at The University of Manchester discovered the evidence in medical papyri written in 1,500BC Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ursus Posted May 12, 2007 Report Share Posted May 12, 2007 This is interesting. I knew that some Egyptian temples operated "Houses of Life" for the sick, but being connected to the temples I had always assumed it was more "magic" than pharmacy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rameses the Great Posted May 12, 2007 Report Share Posted May 12, 2007 Really should come as no real big surprise. The Egyptians were probably the fathers of medicine but the Greeks improved upon the advancements. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Callaecus Posted July 21, 2007 Report Share Posted July 21, 2007 Sorry, but the information is not correct. Medicine, in terms of technique, exists everywhere; even animals practice it by licking a wound. What the Greeks did was to transform medicine into a science, that is, an abstract discourse with universal and necessary laws. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ASCLEPIADES Posted July 23, 2007 Report Share Posted July 23, 2007 Sorry, but the information is not correct. Medicine, in terms of technique, exists everywhere; even animals practice it by licking a wound. What the Greeks did was to transform medicine into a science, that is, an abstract discourse with universal and necessary laws. Salve, C! The sad truth is that hardly anything in therapeutics before the XVII Century (at least) deserves the name of Science as we understand this concept today. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ASCLEPIADES Posted July 23, 2007 Report Share Posted July 23, 2007 full article at Eurekalert Salve, guys! Good link, although a bit unspecific. It is not stated what are the new discoveries of Dr. Metcalfe and his team, as most of what is written there could come from traditional sources like the Papyri Edwin-Smith and Ebers, from the Middle Empire ( circa XVI Century BC), translated since the 1930's. For now, as an example of Dr. Metcalfe's research: Laxatives kept Pharaohs on the throne Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ASCLEPIADES Posted July 23, 2007 Report Share Posted July 23, 2007 Salve, guys! Ough, I almost forget it! Someone may find interesting this related article. Egyptians ate lettuce to boost sex drive Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kosmo Posted July 24, 2007 Report Share Posted July 24, 2007 The medicine might be viewed as a practice since the dawn of humanity or as a science invented by the modern West. The egyptian skill in medicine, especially on healing injuries, it's long known. Still, the books of greeks and romans were the bases of modern medicine. Even if those books conteined some informations originating in Egypt their main ideeas are from the philosophical debates of Greece. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ASCLEPIADES Posted July 24, 2007 Report Share Posted July 24, 2007 Salve, guys! Science (from the Latin scientia, 'knowledge') is: 1.- A system of acquiring knowledge based on the scientific method, as well as; 2.- The organized body of knowledge gained through such research. Scientific method is a body of techniques for investigating phenomena and acquiring new knowledge, as well as for correcting and integrating previous knowledge. It is based on gathering observable, empirical and measurable evidence subject to specific principles of reasoning, the collection of data through observation and experimentation, and the formulation and testing of hypotheses. (These definitions come from en.wikipedia.org). These very basic definitions, mainly built with concepts from Newton and Popper, may be applied to some practices of the Classical Antiquity, like engineering (vg, SEE THIS PREVIOUS TOPIC). They certainly cannot be applied to any therapeutics before the XVII Century and only to a handful of diagnostic procedures before that time. Any Science is also practice. As any of today's branches of Science (vg, Physics or Biology), Medicine was only a practice before becoming a Science; after that, all ot them became (obviously) both practice and Science. I think that in the history of knowledge, any step is the continuation of previous steps and the base for future steps: prehistoric, Ancient Near East, Greek/Roman, Arab/Medieval and so on. The body of knowledge of Medicine (definition no, 2) is not an "invention" of anybody, the same way America wasn't an "invention" of Columbus (or Vikings, if you like). As with any Science, the knowledge is out there. You only have to find it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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