ÓRGANO DEL GOBIERNO DEL ESTADO DE VERACRUZ DE IGNACIO DE LA LLAVE Directora IRENE ALBA TORRES

Sauneron (1989:189) was interested in understanding what types of medicines were used in dealing with snake bite and what type of products the healer had in his pharmacopeia. Products used in preparations during the Pharaonic era can be classified according to their type or origin: animal, vegetable, mineral and liquid. To my mind liquids can contain any of the former. Sauneron (1989:189) believed that understanding the range of products may theoretically aid us in understanding their possible efficacy. He felt that the development of chemistry led us to lose sight of the value of ancient medicines derived directly from nature.

Products of animal origin are discussed by Sauneron (1989:189-191). Some were commonly used. Burnt hooves and dried droppings were used from the ass or donkey. Russet-coloured goats are mentioned and were used for their fat, milk and gall. In one passage apparently mention is made of a young female goat from which blood is obtained. The kid was then rested and returned, alive, to its mother (Sauneron 1989:189). Cat’s blood enters a number of compositions (Sauneron 1989:190). The cat of Heliopolis was used in mythology to slaughter the serpent-demon Apophis. I wonder if the cat’s blood wasn’t considered a potent antidote to snake venom, particularly if venom was considered to be a hostile entity. Black or russet-coloured bulls were utilised for their fat, gall, blood, lungs and dung (Sauneron 1989:190). Interestingly mention is twice made of the use of cobra blood in wound dressings (Sauneron 1989:190). Sauneron comments that this is a curious practice as he says that cobra blood is toxic and produces the same effect as venom, and by using it in a dressing it will effectively mix with human blood. However, adds Sauneron (1989: 190), it also contains antitoxins which are antivenin substances. This concept, to my mind, seems like a form of sympathetic magic. Mention is made of the use of two types of fish. Firstly, the mullet, whose blood, tongue, teeth and excrement were used. The use of the parts of the other fish (the chena’-fish) is not clear. Kite blood and fly droppings were also commonly used (Sauneron 1989:190). Parts of other animals were less commonly used. Sauneron (1989:191) mentions the following: hippopotamus fat, ostrich eggs, and the blood, liver, horns, and neck of the fallow deer. The water salamander and lizards were split in two and used seemingly for their blood. The Nile turtle was used for its leather and excrement.

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Mention of vegetable matter, according to Sauneron (1989:192) is vast. Examples of trees used for ingredients include acacia, date palm, willow, sycamore, moringa, jujube and the itjérou-plant (Capparis decidua). Common plants utilised include bryony, carob, cucumbers, squash or melon, cumin, spelt, flax, mallow, castor, reeds, valerian144 and other unidentifiable plant species (Sauneron 199:192). Bitter gourd is mentioned by Sauneron (1989:193) as a plant used in the struggle against serpents, although the reason is not apparent. The most important plant used in the Brooklyn Papyrus recipes as a remedy against venom appears to have been the onion (Sauneron 1989:193).

Several products of mineral origin were used in snake bite remedies: salt, natron145, lead oxide, copper filings, red ochre146, alum147 and clay. Sauneron (1989:193) says that the neutralising effect of certain minerals and metalloids on venom was known in classical antiquity. Certain minerals are chelators, explains Sauneron (1989:193), which means that there is a chemical reaction between these substances and certain components of venoms, and they are therefore somehow able to mitigate the effect of venom by neutralising it.

Liquids provided the medium in which various substances could be mixed or dissolved. Liquids mentioned by Sauneron (1989:193) include: water, water exposed to the night dew, rain water and fresh water. Other liquids mentioned are: wine, milk and oil. Fermented liquids such as beer made an appearance (Sauneron 1989:194). Such liquids, notes Sauneron (1989:194) were important.

In the recipes in the Brooklyn Papyrus these natural products were used in a number of ways. They may be required to be crushed or powdered. Several types of preparation are described (Sauneron 1989:194-195). A product was generally ground and mixed in a liquid which was usually beer, wine, water, oil or some other fermented liquid. The process of making the medicinal compound was usually a two- step process. First the compound or substance was finely ground to a paste. It was

144 _{Valerian is an antispasmodic and has a calming effect on the heart (Sauneron 1989:193).} 145 _{The main constituents of natron are sodium chloride, sodium sulphate, sodium carbonate and}

sodium bicarbonate. Nunn (1996:145) explains that it would have been used under bandages to draw out fluid and thereby reduce swelling.

146

Red ochre is hydrated iron oxide and clay (Nunn 1996:146).

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then boiled in wine or beer. Alternatively the ground dry mixture could be added to a liquid. Sometimes the product was ground until it dried before adding it to the liquid. There were many diverse uses for these medicinal mixtures. They could be used as ointments, or applied to the wound under a bandage or dressing. They could also be taken orally (Sauneron 198:195). It is noted that recipes gave precise quantities and often mentioned the temperatures at which treatments should be used, as well as the duration of treatment (Sauneron 1989:197).

Halioua, Ziskind & DeBevoise (2005:141) comment that frequent vomiting seems to have been the recommendation for ridding oneself of the venom of the horned viper. The Brooklyn Papyrus does not mention how the vomiting was to be induced for this particular snake. It does however give a recipe for the inducement of vomiting when bitten by a black-hooded cobra: a mixture of salt, garlic and beer is strained and swallowed. One is then required to vomit for four successive days! (Halioua, Ziskind & DeBevoise 2005:143).

A compress of desert sand, moistened, could be placed on a snake bite to draw the venom out, according to the Brooklyn Papyrus (Halioua, Ziskind & DeBevoise 2005:35). Various preparations were made with fat or beeswax to help prevent linen swabs from adhering to wounds. Included in the preparations were plants and plant substances intended to treat the complaint. For snake bite the following could be used: jujube or sycamore (Halioua, Ziskind & DeBevoise 2005:37). The ash of jujube was mixed with onion and vinegar and used as an anti-inflammatory agent (Halioua, Ziskind & DeBevoise 2005:39).

Not only plant material but also mineral substances were used on snakebites. Halioua, Ziskind & DeBevoise (2005:39) relate that the Brooklyn Papyrus mentions scraps of copper being used with the intention of reducing the strength of the snake venom.

It would seem that the preparations were generally prepared by the specialist priests of Selqet. One could drink oil as an emergency measure while the priest was being located to prepare the specific medicinal compounds (Halioua, Ziskind & DeBevoise 2005:143).

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An example of medicinal substances being used as a poultice for a man bitten by a snake is found in recipe 94 (Sauneron 1996:126). A plaster is made of barley flour, coloquinte, beef fat, seeds of the djas-plant, salt of the north and honey. The ingredients are finely ground and mixed with presumably a liquid of sorts.148 The

mixture is applied as a ‘bandage’ to the body.