González FRF, Flores SPL

Language: Spanish
References: 3
Page: 43-48
PDF size: 100.50 Kb.

ABSTRACT

Medical Science has gone through revolutionary changes throughout the centuries. Transition from superstitious interpretations of disease to the scientific point of view cannot be placed at a specific date. Edwin Smith’s Surgical Papyrus presents for the first time the doctor who seeks into the mysteries of the human body and recognizes processes and conditions caused by physical agents. This document describes specific cases and concrete episodes that incite the reader to reach rational conclusions based on science. The author of this treatise was interested in the human body and the characteristics that it shows regardless of his capacity to offer treatment. It is clear that the observations of the human organs described here are not casual and that the book is not a systematic study of the human body. Although its organization resembles the one from the contemporary anatomy and physiology textbooks, this text is only a dissertation of injuries.

REFERENCES

1. Breasted JH. The Edwin Smith Surgical Papyrus. University of Chicago Press, 1991.

2. Atta HM. Edwin Smith surgical papyrus: The oldest known surgical treatise. Am Surg 1999; 65: 1190–1192.

3. Masdeu JC. Aphasia. Arch Neurol 2000; 57: 892-895.