Characteristics of traditional Arabic medicine and drugs. |If you would like to view the Arabic language description in the AUB catalogue, please go to : https://libcat.aub.edu.lb/record=b2616861Condition: Good condition, missing pages at the end.
Record origin: Description based in part on Emilie Savage-Smith, A New Catalogue of Arabic Manuscripts in the Bodleian Library, Oxford, Vol. 1: Medicine. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011, p. 794-796, Entry 242.A single folio taken from a copy of Sharḥ al-Qaṣīdah al-Munfarijah lil-Tawzarī on which a painting of a ‘toothworm’ has been over-painted. Underlying text: 18th century CE(?). Over-painting: 20th century CE(?).
Fihrist: Union Catalogue of Manuscripts from the Islamicate WorldRecord origin: "Manuscript description based on the Bodleian Library's public card index of Arabic manuscripts with additional enhancements by the OCIMCO project team."6 works by 2 authors on the subjects of Tales, Medicine, and Islamic magic
Alchemical or medical recipe containing both organic and metal substances, followed by a short history of the Umayyid caliphate in Damascus. Both texts are written in the same hand. On recto there are also 2 lines from the end of an Arabic legal document.Condition: Slightly tornLayout: 31 lines
Recipe instructions, mentioning stones and metals such as beryl, borax and diamond, and three pounds of mercury.Condition: torn, holes, rubbedLayout: 14 lines (recto); 3 lines (verso)
Shelfmark: Ann Arbor, University of Michigan, Special Collections Research Center Isl. Ms. 1058Origin: As appears in colophon on p.38, transcription completed in the last days of Muḥarram 898 [ca. November 1492].Binding: Limp brown leather covers with dark brown leather over spine (type of quarter binding) ; Type III binding (without flap), tight back though not fully flush with text block (ill-fitting or deliberate squares) ; now linings (potentially once flyleaves) in what appears to be European laid paper ; now sewn in white thread, not original ; overall in good condition with minor abrasion, etc.Support: non-European (possibly Persianate) laid paper with roughly 8 laid lines per cm. (horizontal, fairly straight) and chain lines only rarely visible in pairs (see p.32) ; only somewhat cloudy furnish with inclusions and bits of fiber visible, heavy and sturdy, quite well-burnished to glossy.Decoration: Keywords and headings rubricated.Script: Naskh-nastaʻlīq (talik) ; chiefly a clear Turkish / Turkic hand ; serifless with effect of words inclining slightly to the right, elongation of horizontal strokes, foot of lām, kāf, etc. quite curvilinear, kāf mashqūqah preferred with shaqq (curving upward) on even final kāf, final tāʼ marbūṭah often given as tāʼ maftūḥah, point of final or free-standing nūn set either down at center or floating above tall bowl, very casually pointed with pointing for two dots typically via conjoined dots, etc.Layout: Written in 19 lines per page (single column) ; frame-ruled (impression of ruling board quite evident).Collation: III-2+3 (7), IV (15), IV-1+4 (26) ; 19 original leaves (paginated 1-38) with 7 added leaves, 3 at the opening of the codex, 4 at the close ; original composition of opening gathering uncertain due to repairs ; mainly quaternions originally ; catchwords present ; pagination in pencil, Western numerals, center of lower margin of each text page ; added leaves at opening and close of codex not paginated.Colophon: "Scribal," triangular, reads "تم الكتاب بعون الملك الوهاب فى اواخر شهر محرم سنه ٨٩٨ اللهم اغفر لكاتبه ولقاريه ولمن نظر فيه آمين رب العالمين تم"Explicit: "يكون محتويا الى النساء ويكون محفوظا عن اذى الجن والارواح وغيرها والله اعلم بالصواب واليه المرجع والمآب"Incipit: "لما راينا ان الجزء الاول المختص باسرار الرجال انتهى الى آخره على ما تقدم ذكرها وفصولها لزمنان [كذا] نذكر ايضا فى اسرار النساء التي تدعو الى موافقهن وتوجب الميل اليهن..."Title from opening matter on p.1.Manuscript codex.Fine copy of a treatise of materia medica attributed to Galen, including a number of recipes for drugs intended to treat various sexual conditions.
Leaf from an astrological work, dealing with the connection between the position of the stars in the sky and the development of epidemic and epizootic diseases, the rise of the Nile, the consequent floods and the successful growth of the crops.Condition: Torn, goles, rubbedLayout: 20 lines
Astrological-medical work, discussing the effects of the signs of the zodiac on the human body.Condition: torn, holes, stained, stained, rubbed, fadedLayout: 16 lines
Astrological prognostications concerning illnesses, health and happy events.Condition: Torn, holes, badly rubbed and fadedLayout: 4-9 lines in 2 columns
Leaf from an astrological treatise describing the different reciprocal positions of the Sun, Moon, planets and constellations, and their effects on bodies and their health.Condition: Slightly rubbedLayout: 25-27 lines
Astrological predictions connected with the different houses of the moon, listing the possible diseases caused by astral conditions and favourable moments for beginning new activities and procreating. Storax is recommended as a remedy against cough.Condition: Torn, tiny holes, slightly rubbedLayout: 17 lines (recto); 19 lines (verso)
Page from an astrological work describing the influence of the different months (here called by their Syriac names) on the incidence of diseases, deaths and natural disasters.Condition: Torn, holes, slightly rubbedLayout: 18 lines (recto); 19 lines (verso)
Part of an astrological work making connections between the stars, their position in the sky and the incidence of diseases and natural disasters.Condition: Torn, holes, rubbedLayout: 6 lines
Astrological prognostications regarding the winds and waves of health, possible diseases and the availability of food in particular combinations of stars and planets.Condition: Torn, tiny holesLayout: 15 lines
Falaquera, Nathan ben Joel, 13th cent Nathan ben Joel Falaquera ’s learned Hebrew compendium of medicine ‘Balm for the Body’. A theoretical treatise in the tradition of the great Arabic compendia, Falaquera’s compendium was divided into four parts (theoretical medicine; practical medicine; diseases; drugs) and prefaced with a philosophical discussion on the importance of the study of medicine. Its intention was to acquaint Jewish physicians with the knowledge of medicine available in the Arabic-speaking world (both Islamic and Classical sources). It appears to have been a popular work in the 14th and 15th centuries, with more than a dozen manuscripts from this period extant. This copy, in an Ashkenazi hand on 15th-century Italian paper, is missing substantial sections, however, and seems not to have been finished, breaking off midway through a page (mid-word, in fact) on f. 145r. It is, however, a particularly fine and large manuscript, in two columns with wide margins, with skilfully executed headings in red, green, blue and brown ink, foliage and scrollwork around chapter and section headings, as well as small pen illustrations (including pierced hearts, faces, poppies, bells) frequently brightening up the section numbers. The manuscript’s first three folios are missing, so it begins with the end of the table of contents (col. 1 on f. 4r) and continues with Nathan’s introduction and the first section on theoretical medicine (4r-46v); this section closes on f. 46v with ובכאן נשלם החלק הראשון ועתה אתחיל החלק השני; the section on practical medicine follows (46v-145r) before breaking off. The title of the work is written in a later square hand at the top of f. 4r, ספר צרי הגוף. Further marginal notes, corrections and additions in various hands can be found at f. 5r and rarely throughout the text, e.g., 65r. Where illuminated headings have been cut out of the manuscript, some traces remain, e.g., f. 12r. Many smaller illuminated headings have survived, e.g., f. 21r. Descenders on the lowest line of each column are often adorned with tiny illustrations, usually faces, e.g., 34r, 35r and 40v. Section numbers are similarly treated, e.g., 57v, 58r and 112r. The censor's signature occurs at the end of the text on f. 145r, ‘Gio[vanni] dominico carretto 1610’.Condition: Affected by damp and ink corrosion, many initial pages torn or excised.Layout: 42-48 lines in two columns
Psalms 149:1-150:4 with Hebrew writing-exercises, jottings in Judaeo-Arabic, and two lines of a medical recipe in Arabic.Condition: slightly torn, holes, stainedLayout: 10 lines (recto); 8 lines (verso)
Recto: Genesis 1:1-4 and 1:14 from the Hebrew Bible. Verso: possibly the beginning of a story in Judaeo-Arabic of an ascetic man passing a doctor’s office, where the treatments for a boy’s ailments, such as medication, pills, bloodletting and urine analysis, are being loudly discussed.Condition: Torn, holes, rubbed, fadedLayout: 9 lines
Books II (materia medica), III (diseases arranged by part of the body), IV (diseases not specific to particular organs), and V (compound drugs, ointments, and electuaries) of Avicenna's medical encyclopedia. Some marginal notes, beginning in Book III, with more toward the end of the volume; 2 notes in Arabic laid in following f. 144 and f. 275; the last five leaves copied in a second hand.
Books III (al-Amrāḍ al-juzʼīyah, diseases arranged by part of the body), IV (al-Amrāḍ allatī lā takhuṣṣ bi-ʻuḍwin bi-ʻaynih, diseases not specific to particular organs), and V (al-Adwiyah al-murakkabah, compound drugs, ointments, and electuaries) of Avicenna's medical encyclopedia. Extensive marginal notes on the first pages of the manuscript (f. 1v-3r), with frequent brief marginal notes in the rest of the manuscript. A somewhat later table of contents, arranged in a grid, has been added at the front of the volume (f. iii recto-xvii recto).
Turkish calendar, with a lunar table showing the phases of the moon. Includes information on prayer times for each day of the year and astrological signs for finding the best times for curing different illnesses.
Fihrist: Union Catalogue of Manuscripts from the Islamicate WorldContents: Abū Bakr Muḥammad ibn Zakarīyā Rāzī, Fragments of al-Ṭibb al-Manṣūrī (ff. 1r-54r). Commentary on Johannitius with extracts from the text in an anonymous translation from Latin (ff. 54v-72v). Remedies and medicaments (ff. 73r-79r). Shem Tov ben Joseph Falaquera, Igeret ha-Ṿikuaḥ (fragment) (f. 79v). Treatise on medical astrology (ff. 80v-84v). Avicenna, Canon (Book I) (ff. 85r-131v).
Hebrew and Judaica Manuscripts at the Bodleian Libraries, Oxford UniversityContents: Saadia ibn Danán, Tsurat ha-otiyot (ff. 1r-4r). Saadia ibn Danán, Commentary on Jesaiah 52-53 (ff. 4v-7v). Saadia ibn Danán, Maʾamar al ha-Nevuʾah ṿe-al ha-dorot ha-rishonot sheba-Miḳra (ff. 7v-9r). Saadia ibn Danán, Commentary on the Talmud (Ḳidushin 28) (f. 9). Saadia ibn Danán, Grammatical notes on the word meyaledet in Ex. 1:15 (ff. 9v-10r). Saadia ibn Danán, Commentary on the Mishnah (Kelim 3:1) (ff. 10r-12r). Saadia ibn Danán, Ḥibur ʿal ha-lulav (ff. 12v-14r). Saadia ibn Danán, Seder ha-dorot (ff. 14r-18v). Saadia ibn Danán, Teshuvah al ha-anusim (ff. 19r-21v). Hai ben Sherira, Musar ha-Śekhel (ff. 22r-23v). Chronological list from the first man until the birth of Jeshu (ff. 23v-24r). Birkat ḥatanim (f. 24). Ṭofse igerot (ff. 24v-25v). Index to Sefer Eyin Yaʿaḳov (ff. 26r-67r). Perush ha-milot ha-zarot me-Bereshit Rabah (ff. 68r-74v). Joseph of Castile, Teshuvot le-sheʾelot ʿal derekh ha-Kabalah (ff. 75r-84v). Hai ben Sherira, Responsa on the Kabbalah (ff. 84v-86r).
End of a medical treatise regarding different kinds of food and drinks, their tastes and their influences on the body depending on the time and the amount. Studying this book is said to free one from the long-windedness of ‘quacksalvers’. According to the colophon (P2 f. 1v), the copy was prepared in Alexandria and the scribe wrote it for himself. The name of the scribe is deleted and the name of a new owner, Abraham b. Saʿadya, is added below the colophon.Condition: Holes, rubbedLayout: 8–15 lines
Title page and beginning of Qusṭā b. Lūqā al-Baʿalbakī, Kitāb fī ṣifa al-kadar wa-anwāʿihi wa-ʿilalihi wa-asbābihi wa-ʿilājihi (d. ca. 913 CE), a treatise on numbness according to the opinions of Hippocrates and Galen. There are some jottings on the title page.Condition: Torn, holes, rubbed, slightly stainedLayout: 23 lines
Bifolium that shows considerable evidence of reuse. Originally, there was a colophon on f. 1v to Isaac b. Sulaymān’s ‘Book of Fevers’ (כתאב מגמוע מן אקאויל אלאואיל פי אלחמאיאת ממא עני בגמעה ותאליפה אסחק בן סולימאן אל אסראילי). Subsequently other hands have reused both sides of the bifolium, treating it as a single leaf. The texts include different Judaeo-Arabic philosophical treatises on Creation, and some Arabic basmalas.Condition: torn, holes, rubbedLayout: various lines
Recto: a piyyuṭ with the title Qidduše Yarḥayyā (apparently by Pinḥas). Preserved are the piyyuṭim for Nisan and Iyyar. Verso, top: a medical recipe in Judaeo-Arabic for chest and rib pain. Verso, bottom: an ownership note with the name Šabbetay b. Joseph ha-Mumḥe b. Elʿazar b. ʿAmram the judge, written by this person’s son.Condition: Torn, holes, rubbed, slightly stainedLayout: 25 lines (recto); 13 lines (verso)
Recto: passage possibly from a commentary or homiletic text, mentioning the book of Exodus. Verso: Arabic and Judaeo-Arabic jottings, with mention of Isaac Israeli’s Book on urine (Kitāb al-qārūrāh lil-Isrāʾīlī).Condition: Slightly rubbedLayout: 13 lines (recto); 8 lines (verso)
Commentary on Exodus 21:18-19, possibly Saʿadya’s, with an explanation of the five compensatory payments for injury, pain, medical costs, loss of income and indignity mentioned in Mišna Bava Qamma 8:2.Condition: Torn, rubbed, holesLayout: 22 lines; P2: 14.5 x 15.2; 16 lines
Leaf 1: commentary on Hosea. Leaf 2: medical text dealing with physiology, particularly the humours and the temperaments of the body.Condition: Torn, stainedLayout: 35-48 lines
Fihrist: Union Catalogue of Manuscripts from the Islamicate WorldThe Cyranides is one of the works of the Hermetic corpus, the body of writings ascribed to Hermes Trismegistos. Hermes Trismegistos was a Hellenistic incarnation of the ancient Egyptian Thoth, and the god of all magic, alchemy and astrology. Arabic Hermetic literature continues the Greek tradition; in Islam Hermes is the inventor of all arts and sciences, and master of astronomy, numbers, poisons, chemistry, medicine, &c. This manuscript contains a translation or adaptation from the Greek of part of Book 1 of the Cyranides. The Cyranides is divided into 24 chapters, one for each letter of the Greek alphabet. Under each letter are represented a plant, a bird, a stone and a sea animal, all of whose names begin with that letter. Their individual occult influences combine to produce a new composite effect.Leaf.
Small part of a document in which one of the people mentioned is a physician (al-mutaṭabbib).Condition: Badly torn, slightly rubbed, slightly stainedLayout: 4 lines (recto; verso is blank)
Part of a legal document in Arabic mentioning people involved in the medical profession: […] al-Yahūdī al-ʿAṭṭār (the perfumer/the druggist); […] al-Isrāʾīlī al-Ṣaydalānī (the pharmacist).Condition: Badly torn, holes, rubbed, stainedLayout: 9 lines (recto); 11 lines (verso)
Pen trials. The top two lines are biblical quotations including Psalms 19:8 and Numbers 21:27. Below is the beginning of a statement on a person afflicted by grief and sorrow, surrounded by the words ‘Hippocrates said’ repeated a number of times.Condition: Holes, rubbed, slightly stainedLayout: 8 lines (recto; verso is blank)