II,
p. 371, Bk. XXX, Chap. I, Sect. 1.
The second world-wide practice which finds its earliest record among
the Egyptians is the use secretions and parts of the animal body as
medicine. The practice was one of great antiquity with primitive man,
but the papyri already mentioned contain the earliest known records.
Saliva, urine, bile, faeces, various parts of the body, dried and
powdered, worms, insects, snakes were important ingredients in the
pharmacopoeia. The practice became very widespread throughout the
ancient world. Its extent and importance may be best gathered from
chapters VII and VIII in the 28th book of Pliny's "Natural History."
Several remedies are mentioned as derived from man; others from the
elephant, lion, camel, crocodile, and some seventy-nine are prepared
from the hyaena. The practice was widely prevalent throughout the
Middle Ages, and the pharmacopoeia of the seventeenth and even of the
eighteenth century contains many extraordinary ingredients. "The Royal
Pharmacopoeia" of Moses Charras (London ed., 1678), the most scientific
work of the day, is full of organotherapy and directions for the
preparation of medicines from the most loathsome excretions. A curious
thing is that with the discoveries of the mummies a belief arose as to
the great efficacy of powdered mummy in various maladies.
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