|
The
swnw's
clinical judgment on cases on which he would contend was really very sound
for his time. In the questionable cases the
swnw
prescribed a diet, tried to make the patient as comfortable as possible, and
then "moor him at his mooring stakes." This expression, that occurs quite
frequently in the Smith Papyrus, means to let the patient sit with a pile of
bricks supporting him. The term “mooring” is used to compare a sick person
sitting in bed while everyone else is moving about the room with a boat
moored on the Nile River while river traffic passes it by. Medically it
means the
swnw
would do what he could to help his patient, realizing in the end it was up
to the gods to either cure or kill his patient.
|