Like all African peoples, the Egyptians had a large materia medica, using as many as 1000 animal, plant, and mineral products in the treatment of illness. Night blindness, caused by vitamin A deficiency, was treated with ox livers, known to be rich in vitamin A. Poppy extract–the source of opium—was used to treat colicky babies. Modern physicians use paregoric—whose active ingredient is opium—for exactly the same purpose. Patients with scurvy—caused by vitamin C deficiency—were fed onions, a known source of vitamin C. Castor seeds, the source of castor oil, were used to make cathartic preparations. Mandrake and henbane, sources of belladonna alkaloids, were also known and used. The belladonnas possess properties that stimulate the heart, decrease stomach motility, dilate the pupils, and cause sedation. The Egyptians dispensed their prescriptions as pills, enemas, suppositories, infusions, and elixirs in accurate, standardized doses, causing some to wonder if they had separate pharmacies and pharmacists. [Ghalioungui, P: The House of Life: Magic and Medical Science in Ancient Egypt. Amsterdam, BM Israel, 1973. op. cit., pp. 148–9]

The Egyptians were also quite knowledgeable in handling obstetric and gynecological problems. They knew and treated uterine prolapse. They had means of inducing abortions and preventing conception. They even had an effective pregnancy test! A sample of a woman’s urine was sprinkled on growing cereals; if the cereals did not grow the woman was considered not pregnant; if they did grow she was declared pregnant. Modern experiments have shown that a pregnant woman’s urine has a permissive effect on the growth of barley in about 40% of the cases, demonstrating that there must have been some validity in the world’s first pregnancy test. [Ghalioungui, P: The House of Life: Magic and Medical Science in Ancient Egypt. Amsterdam, BM Israel, 1973. op. cit., pp. 112–3]