The Edwin Smith Surgical Papyrus is one of the most important documents in the history of science, and one of the oldest known scientific treatises surviving from ancient Egypt. It includes, for example, an early word for brain , and the surgeon repeatedly, because of his scientific interest in the observable facts, discusses cases of injured men whom he has no hope of saving. Volume 1 contains a historical introduction to the document, followed by translation and commentary. Volume 2 contains collotype facsimiles of the Papyrus, which originally was in a continuous roll but has now been cut into columns of text.