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Catalogue: Chemical Medicine

Kitāb al-Ṭibb al-jadīd al-kīmīyā’ī ta’līf Barākalsūs (MS A 78): (The New Chemical Medicine of Paracelsus); كتاب الطب الجديد الكيميائى تأليف براكلسوس; by Ṣāliḥ ibn Naṣr Allāh al-ḥalabī Ibn Sallūm (d. 1670/1081); صالح ابن نصر الله ابن سلوم الحلبى

The treatise titled The New Chemical Medicine of Paracelsus often formed Book 4 of one version of Ibn Sallūm's major medical compendium Ghāyat al-itqān fī tadbīr badan al-insān (The Culmination of Perfection in the Treatment of the Human Body); for partial copies of the latter, see NLM MS A 13.

The New Chemical Medicine of Paracelsus, however, often circulated by itself, as in the case of NLM MS A 78. It is subdivided into four chapters (maqalat) and an addendum. The four main chapters are based primarily on the works of Daniel Sennert, in particular the latter's Institutionum medicinae published in Latin in 1611. The addendum consists of an Arabic translation, much shortened, of the Basilica chymica or Royal Chemistry by Oswald Croll, compiled and translated by Ibn Sallūm under the title al-Kīmīyā al-malakiyah.

There is good evidence that The New Chemical Medicine of Paracelsus was written by Ibn Sallūm early in his career, for one copy is known to have been made in 1640/1050 - thirty years before the author's death - most likely before the other writings which were later assembled to form the second version of The Culmination of Perfection in the Treatment of the Human Body. For this early copy, see London, Wellcome Library for the History and Understanding of Medicine, Arabic MS 24 (Iskandar, "Wellcome", p. 205).

For other copies, see Ullmann, Medizin, pp. 182-3; Kamal Chehadeh, 'La Nouvelle Medecine Chimique': Deux manuscripts de Salih Nasrulllah b. Sallum al-Halabi (XVIIe Siècle), Aleppo: Institut d'Histoire des Sciences Arabes, 1984, pp. 4-5; and E. Savage-Smith, 'The Influence of the "New Chemistry" of the Paracelsians upon Seventeenth-Century Arabic Medicine and its Application to the Treatment of Eye Diseases', forthcoming.

Kitāb al-Ṭibb al-jadīd al-kīmīyā’ī ta’līf Barākalsūs (MS A 78)

Illustrations

Folio 1b from Ṣāliḥ ibn Naṣr Allāh al-ḥalabī Ibn Sallūm's Kitāb al-Ṭibb al-jadīd al-kīmīyā’ī ta’līf Barākalsūs (The New Chemical Medicine of Paracelsus). The pale beige paper has very fine horizontal laid lines, prominent single chain lines, and small watermarks. The text is written in a medium-small, compact, very careful naskh script using dense black ink with headings in red and text stops of red dots.

MS A 78, fol. 1b

The opening of Kitāb al-Ṭibb al-jadīd al-kīmīyā’ī ta’līf Barākalsūs (The New Chemical Medicine of Paracelsus) by Ṣāliḥ ibn Naṣr Allāh al-ḥalabī Ibn Sallūm (d. 1670/1081). The copy is undated but the copyist's name is given as al-Ḥājj Muḥammad, and the appearance of the paper, ink, and script suggests a date of about the 18th century.

Folio 80a from Ṣāliḥ ibn Naṣr Allāh al-ḥalabī Ibn Sallūm's Kitāb al-Ṭibb al-jadīd al-kīmīyā’ī ta’līf Barākalsūs (The New Chemical Medicine of Paracelsus) featuring the colophon. The pale beige paper has very fine horizontal laid lines, prominent single chain lines, and small watermarks. The text is written in a medium-small, compact, very careful naskh script using dense black ink with headings in red and text stops of red dots.

MS A 78, fol. 80a

In the colophon to this copy of Kitāb al-Ṭibb al-jadīd al-kīmīyā’ī ta’līf Barākalsūs (The New Chemical Medicine of Paracelsus) by Ṣāliḥ ibn Naṣr Allāh al-ḥalabī Ibn Sallūm (d. 1670/1081), the copyist's name is given as al-Ḥājj Muḥammad (line 19), but the date is not given. The appearance of the paper, ink, and script suggests a date of about the 18th century.

The lower cover and flap of MS A 78 which is a Persian/Turkish binding of the 18th or 19th century has a scalloped mandorla panel stamp with two pendants in the center of each cover. The inner fields of these blind-stamped devices have twisted and tied cloud-ribbon forms with a vine network studded with small flowers and buds. At the very center of the field there appears to be the word 'Ḥasan', the maker's name. A scalloped round medallion is blind-stamped on the envelope flap. Both flap and cover are framed with blind-tooled borders of simple fillets either side of a row of dots.

MS A 78, binding - lower cover and flap

This Persian/Turkish binding of the 18th or 19th century has a scalloped mandorla panel stamp with two pendants in the center of each cover. The inner fields of these blind-stamped devices have twisted and tied cloud-ribbon forms with a vine network studded with small flowers and buds. At the very center of the field there appears to be the word 'Ḥasan', the maker's name. A scalloped round medallion is blind-stamped on the envelope flap. Both flap and cover are framed with blind-tooled borders of simple fillets either side of a row of dots.

The mandorla panel stamp is virtually identical to one that has been cut out of a leather binding and pasted to the front endpaper of MS A 32. In the center of the latter panel are the words ‘amal ‘Umar ('the work of 'Umar').

Physical Description

Arabic. 80 leaves (fols. 1b-80a). Dimensions 16.2 x 11.2 (text area 11.5 x 6.5) cm; 21 lines per page.The title Kitāb al-Ṭibb al-jadīd al-kīmīyā’ī ta’līf Barākalsūs is given in fol.1b lines 2-3; a short title in Persian form, Ṭibb al-jadīd-i kīmīyā’ī, is given by a later hand (fol. 1a). The author's name is not given in the manuscript, but he has been identified from other manuscript copies as Ibn Sallūm.

The copy is undated but the copyist's name is given (fol. 80a, line 19) as: al-Ḥājj Muḥammad. The appearance of the paper, ink, and script suggests about the 18th century.

The four chapters (maqalat) occupy fols.1b-42a and the addendum fols.42a-80a.

The text is written in a medium-small, compact, very careful naskh script using dense black ink with headings in red and text stops of red dots. The text area has been frame-ruled. There are catchwords.

There are a few marginal emendations, apparently made by the copyist.

The pale beige paper has very fine horizontal laid lines, prominent single chain lines, and small watermarks. The two preliminary folios are of recent white paper.

The volume consists of 80 folios and two preliminary folios. Fol. 1a is blank except for a later Persian title and the impressions of two owner's stamps. A table of contents in a recent hand occupies the two preliminary folios (fol. [1-2]).

Binding

The volume is bound in dark-brown leather over pasteboards with envelope flap. The Persian/Turkish binding of the 18th or 19th century has a scalloped mandorla panel stamp with two pendants in the centre of each cover. The inner fields of these blind-stamped devices have twisted and tied cloud-ribbon forms with a vine network studded with small flowers and buds. At the very center of the field there appears to be the word 'Hasan', apparently the maker's name. A scalloped round medallion is blind-stamped on the envelope flap. Both flap and cover are framed with blind-tooled borders of simple fillets either side of a row of dots. There are paper pastedowns and envelope flap lining, but no endpapers.

Provenance

On fol. 1a there are impressions of two owners' stamps and an accompanying signature. An octagonal stamp has the name Ismā‘īl in the center and the Arabic numerals '17', which probably refers to the year 1217 (= 1802). The second stamp, a circular one, has the name al-Sayyid Mu‘īn and the Arabic numerals '91', which could refer to either the year 1191 (= 1777) or 1291 (= 1874). Above this second stamp there is the undated handwritten ex libris for al-Sayyid Mu‘īn ibn Aḥmad.

The volume was purchased in 1941 by the Army Medical Library from A. S. Yahuda (ELS no. 4760 M. 95).

References

Schullian/Sommer, Cat. of incun. & MSS., entry A 78, p. 323.

NLM Microfilm Reel: FILM 48-127 no. 2