(no subject)

Skim-read a slender volume called The Beginnings: Egypt and Assyria (Dawson, Warren R. - Hafner, New York, 1964), the first volume of a series on medical history called Clio Medica. Originally published in 1930, it has little to say about Mesopotamia, and makes no mention of Sekhmet, which surprised me. Nonetheless it was a fascinating read, particularly about the medical ideas of *cough* "primitive" peoples. In some cultures, apparently, human beings are understood to be immortal, unless someone actively kills them; either through violence, which is visible and obvious, or illness, which is invisible and mysterious. Precisely because the source of sickness can't be seen, it must be caused by spirits, whether malevolent demons or the dead (or by witchcraft). Dawson traces the shift in medical thinking from mostly relying on incantations which threaten and repel the spirits, to mostly relying on treatments - including, thanks to trial and error, some medicines which would genuinely work. These early doctors weren't fools. In fact, their "invisible agents" idea is technically correct.