Palla Ákos szerk.: Az Országos Orvostörténeti Könyvtár közleményei 10-11. (Budapest, 1958)

were found by Ruffer in the kidneys of mummies, since this does not yet prove contemporary knowledge. Even if hematuria was known by Egyptians, which, in our opinion, is far from being proved, this could have been but a collective term, covering a wide range of identical symptoms caused by different illnesses, (inflammation, tumor, tuberculosis, stones, etc.) comprising even the simple change of colour in concentrated urine. But we find no reference in contemporary texts to the effect that Egyptians were certain to know hemuria. In general, no or only few incantations are found in the oldest Egyptian medical texts (kahun papyrus, or the chirurgical papyrus of Smith), while later ones are almost exclusively collections of magic formulae (e. g. London papyrus). The same process can be followed in the parts of the Ebers papyrus dating from different periods. The magic seems to have still been connected to the material substratum of the medicament at the beginning of the magical period, in fact, the change brought about by the medicament the effect of the medicine appears to have meant the essence of the magic. With time this became obscured and the actual medication was slowly replaced by incantations. The process is easy to follow in the history of medicine and the author dwells at length on the subject. From a thorough study of medical relics in Old Egypt the author gains the impression of the primacy of empiricism in old Egyptian medicine. Thus, for example, in medical texts, descriptions of objective methods of treatment aire generally found parallel with incantations (the author relies on the fundamental works of Grapow). Such prescriptions, as e. g. on pages 15, 2—4 of the London papyrus, or pages 60,6—7 of the Ebers papyrus, or the lines against plague on the verso of the Smith papyrus, where therapy is exclusively substituted by magic are rare. The author gives a summary of the results of paleopathologica) examinations made in collaboration with J. Nemeskéri on 25 Egyptian mummies dating from the Roman period. During these paleopathologieal examinations the author and his collaborator studied the methods used for removing the brain when embalming. In 17 cases among the 25 mummies examined the brain was removed through the nose, in 2 cases through the foramen occipitale magnum, while in 6 cases there were no traces of the brain having been removed. According to E. G. Smith and Dawson,