A catalogue of Arabic manuscripts on medicine and science in the Wellcome Historical Medical Library / by A.Z. Iskandar.

  • Wellcome Historical Medical Library
Date:
1967
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)

Credit: A catalogue of Arabic manuscripts on medicine and science in the Wellcome Historical Medical Library / by A.Z. Iskandar. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    that of ar-Râzï. His Sharh-t-Tashrîh, 'Commentary on Anatomy', is annexed to his first book called Sharh-1-Kulliyät. 1 Unlike ibn Sïnâ, ar-Râzï and, almost four centuries later, ibn an-Nafïs, made anatomy an independent study. As regards medicines or drugs, ar-Râzï also finds it convenient to join together 'Materia Medica' and 'Compound Drugs' or 'Pharmacopoeia', in his Books II and III, and he criticizes physicians who write on 'Compound Drugs' at the end of their books, adding that if they directed their utmost care to the application of simple drugs, they would not need to prescribe compound drugs. 2 In K. al-Oänün, ibn Sïnâ reserves his second book for 'Materia Medica', and his fifth and last book is on 'Compound Drugs'. 3 It is noticeable that in his 'Commentary on K. al-Odnurì , ibn an-Nafïs follows a system similar to that of ar-Râzï. He writes on 'Materia Medica' and 'Compound Drugs' in the second book of his 'Commentary on K. al- Qänüri. 4 An attempt to make an index of the contents of the first book in WMS. Or. 123 has revealed that some folios are misplaced 5 and others are wanting. Before giving that index, here are the Arabic texts with a translation of the closing chapter of Book I which contains interesting aphorisms on the prin ciples of medicine, most of which appear in ar-Râzï's book al-Murshid or al-Fusül, i.e. 'Aphorisms'. 6 1 pp- 39-40. 2 WMS. Or. 123, fol. 86b, 11. 21-22; p. 25. 3 pp. 27-29. 4 pp- 39-4°. 5 p. 16 (n. 1). 6 A. Z. Iskandar, 'Rhazes' K. al-Murshid aw al-Fusül (The Guide or Aphorisms) with texts selected from his medical writings', Revue de l'Institut des manuscrits arabes [Numéro spécial consacré au livre de Rhazès: 'Le guide ou Aphorismes'], 1961, 7, fase. 1.
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