Written by: Ron Sims, MA, Special Collections Librarian

The recorded dawn of dermatology can be traced to the Ebers Papyrus, a work of the Ancient Egyptians, which dates to the 16th century B.C. The papyrus is a miscellaneous collection of extracts and scraps of medical information from at least forty sources and was found in a tomb in Thebes in 1862. The ancient manuscript describes many kinds of skin diseases, cosmetic problems, and therapies. The Galter Library has one German and two English translations of the Ebers Papyrus.

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This article was featured in Library Notes, #44 (Spring/Summer 2007).

Long before streaming video, iPods and similar late 20th and early 21st century devices, mechanical visual aids were an important part of medical education. Stereoscopic vision was known to the ancient Greeks and can be seen in medieval painting conveying the illusion of depth.  The 17th century saw the increased use of similar devices as exemplified in a perspective box invented by Samuel van Hoogstraten (1627-1678).

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