The Ebers Papyrus provides evidence that the Egyptians used plants containing cardioactive steroids (CASs) at least 3000 years ago. However, it was not until 1785, when William Withering wrote the first systemic account about the effects of the foxglove plant, that the use of CASs was more widely accepted into the Western apothecary. Foxglove, the most common source of plant CAS, was initially ...

Hepatitis C is caused by a virus (HCV) and is transmitted by infected blood. It has no epidemiological relationship with schistosomiasis, which is a parasitic disease that is widespread in Egypt. From the 1950s to the 1980s, Egypt tried to control a schistosomiasis epidemic with a program of mass injections of tartar emetic. Largely because of poor sterilization techniques, this program spread ...

Autonomous machines have fascinated people for millennia. The Ancient Greeks told of Talos, the Man of Bronze, whose supposedly mythical existence has been given unexpected credence by the recent discovery of the Antikythera Mechanism. Could the Greeks really have created a giant mechanical man to protect Europa in Crete against pirates and invaders? Long before that, the Ancient Egyptians crea...

Community health practice in vari­ ous forms has been recorded for over 5 000 years (Anderson, 1969). The ancient Egyptians developed a community system for water supply and sewage disposal. The Hebrews focused on the promotion of health through the Mosaic code which regulated personal hygiene, food, sanitation, maternal health, and more. The Greeks (500-100 BC) emphasised values of personal hy...

Orthodontics had its beginnings in the time of the ancient Egyptians, who used crude metal bands and catgut, but it was not until the late 18th century that the first practical appliances came into use. These were fine-tuned during the early 1900s; today's mechanisms are merely refinements. Major changes occurred when practitioners--originally physicians--began turning their attention from cosm...

The Egyptians recognised female violence in all its forms, their queens even portrayed crushing their enemies, executing prisoners or firing arrows at male opponents as well as the non-royal women who stab and overpower invading soldiers. Although such scenes are often disregarded as illustrating 'fictional' or ritual events, the literary and archaeological evidence is less easy to dismiss. Roy...

 Unlike other domesticated creatures, the house cat contributes little to human survival. Researchers have therefore wondered how and why cats came to live among people.  Experts traditionally thought that the Egyptians were the first to domesticate the cat, some 3,600 years ago.  But recent genetic and archaeological discoveries indicate that cat domestication began in the Fertile Crescent,...

We may think of implants as being an invention of modern times. But history shows evidences of ancient civilization trying to replace missing teeth by banding artificial tooth replacements to remaining teeth or by using gold ligature wires to stabilize periodontally weak teeth. The first clear evidence of tooth replacement is from the early Egyptians in 2500 BC where attempts were made to stabi...

In fact, the therapeutic benefits of cold temperature, particularly its analgesic and anti-inflammatory effects, were discovered by the ancient Egyptians and the Greek physician Hippocrates (Dawber & Cooper, 2001). Such intervention has evolved from the simple application of ice packs to the development of cutting edge equipment which utilizes the concept involving the effects of cold temperatu...

Humans first used copper about 10,000 years ago. A copper pendant discovered in Northern Iraq is thought to date back to around 8700 BC. Prehistoric man probably used copper for weapon making. Ancient Egyptians too seemed to have appreciated the corrosion resistance of the metal. They used copper bands and nails in ship building and copper pipes were used to convey water. Some of these artifact...