Page:The Harveian oration 1904.djvu/25

8 THE HARVEIAN ORATION, 1904 of the nature of human life, strove to prolong it, to assuage suffering, and to cure disease. They studied and treated many of the ailments familiar to us, such as tubercle, leprosy, plague, anaemia, and other diseases prevalent in Egypt to-day. Near the site of this temple, securely sealed in an earthen vessel which had been hidden in the sand, was found one of the medical papyri from which I shall quote some passages; doubtless it belonged to an early physician who sought, perhaps during the invasion of Ethiopian or other barbarians, to preserve for mankind the precious knowledge that seemed in danger of extinction.

As we should naturally expect in the case of one so eminent, the Egyptian artists made many drawings and bronze figures of I-em-hotep; they usually represent him as a man rather than as a god, with few mystic or metaphorical emblems excepting those related to learning or human life. He is represented in art as a bald-headed man, usually in a sitting posture, bearing on his knees an open papyrus scroll, and sometimes holding in his hand the symbol of life.'

I-em-hotep rises before us as one of those intellectual giants who take all knowledge for their province. In his comprehensiveness he surpasses Leonardo da Vinci or our own Linacre; he is 1. See Plate I