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The Edwin Smith Papyrus is an incomplete copy of an earlier text on surgery. It covers 48 cases, mostly of injuries caused my some type of trauma, and provides instructions on the diagnosis and treatment of these conditions. They are all conditions that affect the head or spinal cord. Each condition is classified according to how treatable it is into "favourable", "uncertain" or "intractable" and unlike so many texts of the time diagnosis and treatment are based on practical, logical observation and care rather than magic.

To mention just a few of the cases (given by modern names or descriptions): Tetanus (case 7, shown by lock jaw)

Aphasia (case 20, classified as untreatable)

Gaping wound to the neck, down to the bone (case 29)

Sprained neck (case 30)

Dislocation of the neck vertebrae (case 31)

Crushed vertebrae in the neck (case 33, classified as untreatable)

Sprain in the spine (case 48)

It also covers various headaches and concussions, sciatica, treatments such as splinting, returning dislocated joints to their sockets, dressing wounds and shows the Egyptian understanding of the human body and the way in which it worked. A full translation of the text by J. breasted was published in 1939.

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16y ago

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