Though printed records of the lesions of arteriosclerosis first appear in the works of the anatomists of the sixteenth century, proof that the disease has existed from early times was disclosed by Shattock's1study of the mummy of Amenhotep II and by Ruffer's2observations in mummies dating from the eighteenth dynasty (about 1576 B. C.) to the twenty-seventh dynasty (about 525 A. D.). This has significance, since any agency brought forward as a cause of arteriosclerosis must meet the test of possible availability during a period of at least thirty-five centuries. From the records of early anatomists it is evident that the arterial changes were looked on as wholly incidental to age and therefore natural and not disease processes. Though specific descriptions of the lesions are found in seventeenth century publications, appreciation of the pathologic character of the process did not manifest itself until the eighteenth century. Morgagni