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Pharmacography is the science of the correct way of prescribing prescription drugs. It
includes the principles of general pharmacology, the description of medicinal products
according to the choice of drug form and mode of action, as well as the method and time of
taking the drugs.
Medical papyri were written by scribes and transcribers on the orders of doctors, usually in
hieratic script.
They were written in black, and quantitative data were usually written in red, which were
listed after the name of the drug (medicinal substance).
One of the longest and most detailed recipes is the so-called “to rejuvenate a man”, and it
describes the preparation of an ointment to remove wrinkles from the face.
At the end of the prescription, there is a note about the heat of the medicinal drink, about
the time when and how many times the patient should take the medicine.
Some of the descriptions are:
⦿”finger heat” – the heat that a finger endures when it is immersed in a liquid
⦿”pleasant heat” or “twitchy” medicine
⦿The instructions for the preparation of the medicine were as follows
⦿”let it crumble„
⦿”let it mix„
⦿”let the ointment be made”
The ancient Egyptians perfected the fermentation process, so they used wines, beer or milk
as vehicles for liquid medicinal preparations.
They used honey as an excipient to incorporate solid medicinal substances into pills, and
used wax to prepare ointments.
From pharmaceutical formulations, they used infusions, decoctions, gargles, inhalations,
pills, suppositories, lotions and plasters.