Mummified Afflictions

Like eager boys in a Hallowe'en cabbage patch, Dr. Arnold Sack's assistants at the University of Heidelberg, Germany, twisted the blackened heads off his Egyptian mummies so that he could better study them for traces of ancient afflictions. The oldest skulls, now weazened and leather-covered, showed teeth in perfect condition. People of 4,000 to 6,000 years ago ate coarse foods which prevented dental decay. But by the time of the Christian Era, Egyptian life was luxurious, food was soft. Consequently tooth decay was as prevalent as today. One batch of 500 mummies showed at least one tooth rotted in each skull, and almost every set of teeth covered with tartar.

About this time, too, gout appeared, as shown by uric acid deposits in joints, and by swollen great toes and knees. Cancer appeared first a century or two before Christ. But tuberculosis appeared in the Fifth Dynasty (27th Century, B. C.) This mummy's spine was affected. Ramses V (circa, 11th Century, B. C.) had smallpox. Mummies packed away 6,000 years ago had gallstones. Gravel in the kidneys first appeared 5,000 years ago, and pelvic abscesses became a frequent affliction 30 centuries back.