PREFACE TO THE FOURTH GERMAN EDITION.
Two years and a half after the appearance of the third edition of "AnEgyptian Princess," a fourth was needed. I returned long since fromthe journey to the Nile, for which I was preparing while correcting theproof-sheets of the third edition, and on which I can look back withspecial satisfaction. During my residence in Egypt, in 1872-73, alucky accident enabled me to make many new discoveries; among them onetreasure of incomparable value, the great hieratic manuscript, whichbears my name. Its publication has just been completed, and it is now inthe library of the Leipzig University.
The Papyrus Ebers, the second in size and the best preserved of all theancient Egyptian manuscripts which have come into our possession,was written in the 16th century B. C., and contains on 110 pages thehermetic book upon the medicines of the ancient Egyptians, known also tothe Alexandrine Greeks. The god Thoth (Hermes) is called "the guide" ofphysicians, and the various writings and treatises of which the work iscomposed are revelations from him. In this venerable scroll diagnosesare made and remedies suggested for the internal and external diseasesof most portions of the human body. With the drugs prescribed arenumbers, according to which they are weighed with weights and measuredwith hollow measures, and accompanying the prescriptions are noted thepious axioms to be repeated by the physician, while compounding andgiving them to the patient. On the second line of the first page of ourmanuscript, it is stated that it came from Sais. A large portion ofthis work is devoted to the visual organs. On the twentieth line of thefifty-fifth page begins the book on the eyes, which fills eight largepages. We were formerly compelled to draw from Greek and Roman authorswhat we knew about the remedies used for diseases of the eye among theancient Egyptians. The portion of the Papyrus Ebers just mentionedis now the only Egyptian source from whence we can obtain instructionconcerning this important branch of ancient medicine.
All this scarcely seems to have a place in the preface of a historicalromance, and yet it is worthy of mention here; for there is somethingalmost "providential" in the fact that it was reserved for the authorof "An Egyptian Princess" to bestow the gift of this manuscript upon thescientific world. Among the characters in the novel the reader will meetan oculist from Sais, who wrote a book upon the diseases of the visualorgans. The fate of this valuable work exactly agrees with the courseof the narrative. The papyrus scroll of the Sais oculist, which a shorttime ago existed only in the imagination of the author and readers of"An Egyptian Princess," is now an established fact. When I succeeded inbringing the manuscript home, I felt like the man who had dreamed of atreasure, and when he went out to ride found it in his path.
A reply to Monsieur Jules Soury's criticism of "An Egyptian Princess" inthe Revue des deux Mondes, Vol. VII, January 1875, might appropriatelybe introduced into this preface, but would scarcely be possible withoutentering more deeply into the ever-disputed question, which will beanswered elsewhere, whether the historical romance is ever justifiable.Yet I cannot refrain from informing Monsieur Soury here that "AnEgyptian Princess" detained me from no other work. I wrote it in mysick-room, before entering upon my academic career, and while composingit, found not only comfort and pleasure, but an opportunity to give deadscientific material a living interest for myself and others.
Monsieur Soury says romance is the mortal enemy of history; but thissentence may have no more justice than the one with which I think myselfjustified in replying: Landscape painting is the mortal enemy of botany.The historical romance must be enjoyed like any other work of art.No one reads it to study history; but many, the author hopes, may bearoused by his work to make investigations of their own, for which thenotes point out the way. Already several persons of excellent mentalpowers have been attracted to earnest Egyptological researches by"An Egyptian Princess." In the presence of such experiences, althoughMonsieur Soury's clever statements appear to contain much that is true,I need not apply his remark that "historical romances injure the causeof science" to the present volume.
Leipzig, April 19, 1875.
GEORG EBERS.