CHEMISTRY and CHEMICAL ARTS ANCIENT EGYPT. PART I L. E. WARREN 2 Raymond Street, Chevy Chase, Maryland
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EVERAL years since, the writer had occasion to examine the literature concerning the practice of medicine as i t had existed in ancient Egypt.' While these studies were being made it was noted that the Egyptians had advanced considerably in what might be called the "chemical arts" and that they had made many true, chemical discoveries* which were of great use to them in numerous practical ways. Further, it appeared that but few attempts had been made to sort out these fads from the great masses of literature through which they were scattered and to bring them collectively and briefly to the attention of modern chemists. That is the object of this paper. In order to understand the progress that the ancient Egyptians had made in chemistry and the chemical arts i t is necessary to know something of the historical background of this remarkable people and to survey their general knowledge of such of the arts and sciences as they had acquired. It sfiould be understood that the Egyptians in general did not possess an inquiring mind and that ordmarily they would not conduct experiments merely for the purpose of satisfying curiosity or gaining knowledge. It is not to be expected, therefore, that their chemistry would advance beyond the purely practical stages. It is believed that the Egyptians came originally from south-central Asia and that they entered the Nile Valley across the Isthmus of Suez. However, their exact origin and the date of their migration are alike unknown. The Egyptians were a dark-skinned, Caucasian people of great intelligence. Herodotus, who visited Egypt twenty-four centuries ago, says2: "The
' WARREN,L. E., "Pharmacy and medicine in ancient Egypt,"
J. Am. Pherm. Assoc.. 20. 1065 (1931).
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For example, the m'anufacke bf highly ornamented porcelain, glass, and pottery could not have been carried out without considerable knowledge of the chemical properties of metallic oxides bv which the artifacts were colored. HE~ODOTUS, "Euterpe." Translated by BELOE.W,, Vol. 1, LXXXII. 381. Earle, Philadelphia, 1814.
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Egyptians have certainly discovered more things that are wonderful than all tharest of mankind."+ Herodotus calculated that the Egyptian priests had a written history going back a t least 11,300years before his time.3 Whether or not the story of Herodotus be accepted, we know that the civilization of ancient Egypt had its beginnings in a far remote past. PERIODS IN EGYPTIAN HISTORY
The development of Egyptian civilization may he divided more or less artificially into two principal periods, namely, the Predynastic and the Dynastic. The last-named is further subdivided into three periods, namely, the Old Kingdom, the Middle Kingdom, and the Empire. The Predynastic Period was preceded by long ages of archaic civilization during which the Egyptians began to emerge from the Neolithic culture into the age of metals. The calendar of 365 days1 was established by the
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The ambitious young men of all Mediterranean lands went to Egypt to complete their education under the Egyptian priests. Plato spent three years at On (called Heliopalis by the Greeks). Thales, Sdon, Anaxagoras, Democritus, Pythagoras, Eudoxus, and many others studied there. Herodotus, Strabo, Diodorus, also Svnesius. and other ancient historians and aeoara~hers - .
