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There
were
7 major medically‑related papyri. The first known medical text, the
battered Kahun papyrus, appeared in the Middle Kingdom circa 1,900 BC.; it
was followed by half a dozen others spread out over the next 800 years.
Their texts, translated and printed out, amount to less than 200 pages, and
consists of short paragraphs that are either prescriptions, spells against
certain diseases, or diagnosis. There are roughly 1,200 such paragraphs,
900 of which are prescriptions and as such they read like a drug catalogue.
The exception to this is the fascinating Smith papyrus, republished in the
Breadsted edition and available in Falk Library for examination.
. This work deals with surgical matters
and has no mention of the gods.
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