Julius
Hirschberg,
The
History of Ophthalmology.
The
Monographs,
Volume One
(Parts 1 and 2).
Richey
L. Waugh, Jr.,
The
Eye and Man in Ancient Egypt.
Ostend
1995. (two volumes) $390+ $19
shipping
J. P.
Wayenborgh, P.0. Box 96,
B ‑ 8400
Ostend 3,
Belgium
REVIEWED
BY MARK J. MANNIS Sacramento, California
"My
Refuge is my Eye, my Protection is
my Eye,
my
Strength is my Eye, my Power is my
Eye" .
(From the Pyramid Texts).
In a
household in which both an ophthalmologist and a university student of
archeology reside, artifacts and cataracts are not so unusual a combination of
topics for conversation at the dinner table. Perhaps for this reason, more than
one faction of our household was interested in the two recently published
volumes by Richey L. Waugh from J. P. Wayenborgh Press.
Georg
Ebers's 1889 publication on the papyrus that bears his name gave the world
a first glimpse at ancient Egyptian ophthalmology. Dr. Waugh's two‑volume
treatise discloses the historian's remarkable attempt to bring together
religious, literary, and historical sources that elucidate the eye and man in
ancient Egypt.
Beginning
with three chapters on prehistoric Egypt,
Part One provides an interesting chapter on
hieroglyphics and the language of ancient Egypt followed by a chronology of the
Egyptian dynasties. The book then turns to ancient sources of medical
information including the Ebers papyrus and numerous other medical,
surgical, and veterinary writings. An overview chapter follows on ancient
Egyptian religious beliefs. The remainder of this volume is a catalogue of
conditions and their remedies. It describes interesting therapeutic
concoctions such as the combination of colocynth, ochre, crocodile dung, red
natron, honey, and resin, which is made into a poultice for external application
to restore diminished sight. This volume closes with a chapter explaining what
is known about medical personnel as described in
hieroglyphs.
Part Two
is somewhat
more difficult to wade through, since it deals heavily in archaeologic and
hieroglyphic documentation. There is far less expository writing and more
scholarly textual analysis. The patron god of the oculists is described as is
evidence descriptive of our historic professional colleagues in ancient Egypt.
There is also a fascinating chapter on
the
remedies of the Christian Copts from the tenth century A.D., demonstrating that
ancient Egyptian thought survived throughout centuries of dominating Greek and
Roman influence. Much of the last half of Part Two is occupied with annotation
and appendices.
Both
volumes are a testimony to painstaking historic scholarship. These books
demonstrate that the eye was clearly venerated as a vital organ in ancient Egypt
as exemplified in the familiar symbol and amulet, the Eye of Horus. As
the legend goes, Horus, the son of Osiris and Isis, lost an
eye during a battle as he sought revenge in an act of filial devotion, his eye
was restored by Thoth, and the eye became a symbol of healing, welIness,
and power. In the Pyramid Texts, the Eye of Horus is mentioned no fewer
than 250 times and is attributed the power to cleanse, protect, restore, and
refresh. Dr. Waugh has done a fine job in adding these books to the shelf
accessible to the English speaker interested in the history of ophthalmology in
the ancient world.
Extract
from: AMERICAN JOURNAL OF OPHTHALMOLOGY, JANUARY 1996
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