knowledge of disease when conditioned by erroneous views of its nature.
At first, the priest and physician were identified, and medicine never
became fully dissociated from religion. Only in the later periods did
a special group of physicians arise who were not members of priestly
colleges.(6) Maspero states that the Egyptians believed that disease
and death were not natural and inevitable, but caused by some malign
influence which could use any agency, natural or invisible, and very
often belonged to the invisible world. "Often, though, it belongs to
the invisible world, and only reveals itself by the malignity of
its attacks: it is a god, a spirit, the soul of a dead man, that has
cunningly entered a living person, or that throws itself upon him
with irresistible violence. Once in possession of the body, the evil
influence breaks the bones, sucks out the marrow, drinks the blood,
gnaws the intestines and the heart and devours the flesh. The invalid
perishes according to the progress of this destructive work; and death
speedily ensues, unless the evil genius can be driven out of it before
it has committed irreparable damage. Whoever treats a sick person
has therefore two equally important duties to perform. He must first
discover the nature of the spirit in possession, and, if necessary, its
name, and then attack it, drive it out, or even destroy it. He can
only succeed by powerful magic, so he must be an expert in reciting
incantations, and skilful in making amulets. He must then use medicine
(drugs and diet) to contend with the disorders which the presence of the
strange being has produced in the body."(6)

(5) Maspero: Life in Ancient Egypt and Assyria, London,
1891, p. 119.

(6) Maspero: Life in Ancient Egypt and Assyria, London,
1891, p. 118.