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(Editor's Note: For the next few weeks, we will look at selected events/documents that have helped shape pharmacy.)
The Ebers Papyrus is perhaps the most famous surviving artifact relating to pharmacy. It was written about 1553-1550 BC and was discovered about 1862 in a tomb at Thebes, together with another medical text, the Edwin Smith Papyrus. It is now preserved in the University of Leipzig and is in almost perfect condition.
It is a miscellaneous collection of extracts and jottings collected from at least 40 different sources. It consists of mainly a large collection of over 800 prescriptions and more than 700 drugs mentioned for a number of named ailments; specifying the names of the drugs, the quantities of each, and the method of administration. It also contains sections dealing with diagnosis and symptoms, physiology, as well as spells and incantations.
The text:
- Is 68 feet long and 12 inches wide
- Covers 110 large columns (each averaging 22 lines long and 877 numbered sections of varying length)
- Consists of black and red writing on the papyrus (The beginning of each chapter and paragraph is enriched with red capitals.)
The prescriptions range from simple ones containing one substance to complex remedies of up to 37 ingredients; the average is from 6 to 12 ingredients.
Next week, we will look at some example prescriptions.
Loyd V. Allen, Jr., PhD, RPh
Editor-in-Chief
International Journal of Pharmaceutical Compounding
Remington: The Science and Practice of Pharmacy Twenty-second edition
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