efficacy.

The practical anatomical knowledge of the physician, there is
every reason to believe, was extremely limited. At first thought
it might seem that the practice of embalming would have led to
the custom of dissecting human bodies, and that the Egyptians, as
a result of this, would have excelled in the knowledge of
anatomy. But the actual results were rather the reverse of this.
Embalming the dead, it must be recalled, was a purely religious
observance. It took place under the superintendence of the
priests, but so great was the reverence for the human body that
the priests themselves were not permitted to make the abdominal
incision which was a necessary preliminary of the process. This
incision, as we are informed by both Herodotus[7] and
Diodorus[8], was made by a special officer, whose status, if we
may believe the explicit statement of Diodorus, was quite
comparable to that of the modern hangman. The paraschistas, as he
was called, having performed his necessary but obnoxious
function, with the aid of a sharp Ethiopian stone, retired
hastily, leaving the remaining processes to the priests. These,
however, confined their observations to the abdominal viscera;
under no consideration did they make other incisions in the body.
It follows, therefore, that their opportunity for anatomical
observations was most limited.

Since even the necessary mutilation inflicted on the corpse was
regarded with such horror, it follows that anything in the way of
dissection for a less sacred purpose was absolutely prohibited.
Probably the same prohibition extended to a large number of
animals, since most of these were held sacred in one part of