Ancient Egypt

In the eadiest known paintings, the primitive cave paintings, paint was appHed directly onto the cave wall, with tittle or no preparation. As early as the Old Kingdom in ancient Egypt, however, wall surfaces were specially prepared using a coating of plaster. In time, the refinement and complexity of the preparation layers increased until in the Renaissance several layers of different composition and fineness were superimposed. Other preparations used, especially in the Far East, consisted of a clay layer. 

The use of the various tempera and of wax has been identified on objects dating back to ancient Egypt. The Eayum mummy portraits are beautiful examples of encaustic painting, ie, using molten wax as medium. A rather special variation was the technique used by the Romans for wall paintings. In these, the medium, referred to by Pliny as Punic wax, probably consisted of partially saponified wax. In Europe, wax ceased to be used by the ninth century. 

Roofs are a basic element of shelter from inclement weather. Natural or hewn caves, including those of snow or ice, ate early evidence of human endeavors for protection from the cold, wind, rain, and sun. Nomadic people, before the benefits of agriculture had been discovered and housing schemes developed, depended on the availabiUty of natural materials to constmct shelters. Portable shelters, eg, tents, probably appeared early in history. Later, more permanent stmctures were developed from stone and brick. SaUent features depended strongly on the avadabihty of natural materials. The Babylonians used mud to form bricks and tiles that could be bonded with mortars or natural bitumen. Ancient buildings in Egypt were characterized by massive walls of stone and closely spaced columns that carried stone lintels to support a flat roof, often made of stone slabs. 

The fire assay, the antecedents of which date to ancient Egypt, remains the most rehable method for the accurate quantitative determination of precious metals ia any mixture for concentrations from 5 ppm to 100%. A sample is folded iato silver-free lead foil cones, which are placed ia bone-ash cupels (cups) and heated to between 1000 and 1200°C to oxidize the noimoble metals. The oxides are then absorbed iato a bone-ash cupel (ca 99%) and a shiny, uniformly metaUic-colored bead remains. The bead is bmshed clean, roUed fiat, and treated with CP grade nitric acid to dissolve the silver. The presence of trace metals ia that solution is then determined by iastmmental techniques and the purity of the silver determined by difference. 

Cordials were said to be produced in ancient Egypt and Athens. Commercial production started in the Middle Ages when alchemists, physicians, and monks were searching for the "elixir of life." Many wek-known cordials were developed in this period, such as Benedictine and Chartreuse, both bearing the names of the monasteries where they were first developed. 

Coffee was originally consumed as a food in ancient Abyssinia and was presumably first cultivated by the Arabians in about 575 AD (1). By the sixteenth century it had become a popular drink in Egypt, Syria, and Turkey. The name coffee is derived from the Turkish pronunciation, kahveh, of the Arabian word gahweh signifying an infusion of the bean. Coffee was introduced as a beverage in Europe early in the seventeenth century and its use spread quickly. In 1725, the first coffee plant in the western hemisphere was planted on Martinique, West Indies. Its cultivation expanded rapidly and its consumption soon gained wide acceptance. 

In Ancient Egypt mummies were wrapped in cloth dipped in a solution of bitumen in oil of lavender which was known variously as Syrian Asphalt or Bitumen of Judea. On exposure to light the product hardened and became insoluble. It would appear that this process involved the action of chemical cross-linking, which in modem times became of great importance in the vulcanisation of rubber and the production of thermosetting plastics. It was also the study of this process that led Niepce to produce the first permanent photograph and to the development of lithography (see Chapter 14). 

Fairgrieve, S.I. 1993 Amino acid residue analysis of Type I collagen in human hard tissue an assessment of cribra orbitalia in an ancient skeletal samplefrom tomb 31, site 31/435-D5-2, Dakhleh Oasis, Egypt. Ph.D. dissertation, University of Toronto. 

The earliest recorded attempts at organ transplant date back thousands of years.1 More than a few apocryphal descriptions exist from ancient Egypt, China, India, and Rome documenting experimentation with transplantation. For example, an Indian text from the second century bc describes a procedure for nasal reconstruction surgery with the use of autografted skin. Also, Roman Catholic lore has saints Damian and Cosmas replacing the gangrenous leg of a man with the leg of a recently deceased man in the third century ad.1... 

Some thoughts on White Powder of Gold from Egypt onwards. "There is evidence of this type of research and application in ancient times on Mt. Horeb in the Sinai Peninsula. 

The Kybalion a study of the hermetic philosophy of ancient Egypt and Greece, by three initiates. Chicago (IL) The Yogi Publication Society. ISBN 0-911662-25-1... 

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