Medicine and Health Care in Ancient Egypt

External injuries like wounds and fractures were often obvious. The Egyptian concept of the human body was seen as a series of interconnecting canals, likened to the Nile and its tributaries, in which air, blood, urine, faeces and semen flowed. They therefore believed that the precondition of good health was the free flow of these canals, and that illness and ailments were the result of a blocked canal. Internal ailments were usually attributed to the influences of the gods, who could be malevolent or benevolent, sometimes sending down a sickness as a punishment to the wrongdoer.