Catalogue: Medical Therapeutics

NLM has in its collections two items that are anonymous general discourses on the treatment of diseases. The first has been misattributed to Galen because its title, Kitāb al-Mayāmir is the same as the Arabic translation of Galen's Greek treatise usually referred to by its Latin title De compositione medicamentorum secundum locus (On the compound remedies arranged according to the location of the ailment, i.e. head to foot). The Arabic treatise contained in the NLM manuscript of this title (Kitāb al-Mayāmir or The Book of Homilies) is very different, however, from the Arabic version of Galen's treatise, though it does emphasize the use of compound remedies in treating diseaes occuring in different parts of the body. Moreover, a number of medieval Islamic authorities are cited in this anonymous treatise, including Ibn Masawayh (d. 857/253) who was the teacher of Ḥunayn ibn Isḥāq, Ibn Zakarīyā’ (presumably Abū Bakr Muḥammad ibn Zakarīyā’ al-Rāzī, who died c. 925/313), and Isma‘il al-Jurjānī (d. c. 1136/532).

The second anonymous general therapeutic piece is only a fragment -- that is, the opening page of the third part of a larger treatise, and this third part is concerned with ailments that are of short duration. No author is supplied in the fragment, and the larger treatise from which this is a fragment has not been identified.

Both items are contained in the same NLM manuscript (MS A 39), though they were transcribed by different copyists and on different paper.

Kitāb al-Mayāmir   (MS A 39, item 2)

(The Book of Homilies)

كتاب الميامر

Anonymous

The treatise at NLM titled Kitāb al-Mayāmir has been misattributed to Galen because its title is the same as the Arabic translation of Galen's Greek treatise usually referred to by its Latin title De compositione medicamentorum secundum locus (On the compound remedies arranged according to the location of the ailment, i.e. head to foot). The Arabic treatise contained in the NLM manuscript of this title is very different from the Arabic version of Galen's treatise, though it does emphasize the use of compound remedies in treating disease occuring in different parts of the body. Moreover, a number of medieval Islamic authorities are cited in the anonymous treatise, including (on fols. 170a) Ibn Masawayh (d. 857/253) who was the teacher of Ḥunayn ibn Isḥāq, (on fols. 186a) Ibn Zakarīyā’ (presumably Abū Bakr Muḥammad ibn Zakarīyā’ al-Rāzī, who died c. 925/313), and (on fol. 282b) Isma‘il al-Jurjānī (d. c. 1136/532).

The treatise concerns diseases of different parts of the body and their therapy, with particular emphasis on compound remedies. It consists of 33 mayamir (homilies) with each individual homily subdivided into subsections (maqalahs).

The treatise has not been published in a modern translation or edition. No other copies are recorded.

Physical Description

Arabic. 293 leaves (fols. 2a-294b). Dimensions 16.3 x 8.0 (text area 12.5 x 5.3) cm; 24 lines per page. The title Kitāb al-Mayāmir is given in the colophon (fol. 17a line 17) to the first section (mujallad) which the copyist transcribed. The author is not named; it has been misattributed to Galen by Sommer (Schullian/Sommer, Cat. of incun. & MSS, p. 310) and by F. Sezgin (Sezgin, GAS III, p. 412) because the Arabic version of Galen's De compositione medicamentorum secundum locus circulated under the name Kitāb al-Mayāmir; Hamarneh (Hamarneh, "NLM", p. 81-82) refutes this attribution.

The copy is dated at the end of the first section (mujallad) on (fol. 17a line 21-22) where it is stated that an unnamed copyist completed that portion of the copy on 12 Sha‘ban 938 [= 20 March 1532].

The copy is incomplete. The entire 1st maymar (homily) and the beginning of the 16th maymar are missing. Some of the other mayamir are out of sequence: part of 13th is written on fols. 33a-37b, and the 16th-21st are on fols. 2a-79b. The text is written in a small, compact nasta‘liq in black ink with headings in red. There are catchwords (many cut off when the edges of the paper were trimmed).

There are some marginal corrections.

The brown, glossy, thin, burnished paper is fibrous, and has only laid lines visible. There is some water damage. The paper has been trimmed from its original size, cutting off some off many of the catchwords and some of the marginalia.

The volume consists of 295 leaves. Fol. 1a is blank; fol. 295a is blank while 295b has only a few miscellaneous short notes. Fol. 1b (item 1) is a fragment of a chapter on the treatment of short-term diseases, catalogued immediately below; fols. 2a-294b (item 2) is the item here catalogued.

Binding

The volume is bound in blue and white printed paper with floral and geometrical designs pasted over black leather on back and front covers. There are brown leather doublures and modern paper endpapers.

Provenance

The volume was acquired in 1941 by the Army Medical Library from A.S. Yahuda who acquired it in Homs, Syria (ELS 1759 med. 57).

References

Schullian/Sommer, Cat. of incun. & MSS., entry A39 p. 310, where it is attibuted to Galen; Hamarneh, "NLM", pp. 81-82.

NLM Microfilm Reel: FILM 48-119 no. 6

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Fī amrād al-mukhtaṣar / al-Fann al-thālith fī al-amrād al-mukhtaṣar   (MS A 39, item 1)

(On Abbreviated Diseases / The Third Chapter on Abbreviated Diseases)

فى الامراض المختصر

Anonymous

This is only a fragment -- that is, the opening page of the third part of a larger treatise. This third section (fann) is concerned with the treatment of ailments that are of short duration. The discussion begins with diseases of the brain; all but the first folio is missing.

No author is supplied in the fragment, and the larger treatise from which this is a fragment has not been identified.

Physical Description

Arabic. 1 leaf (fol. 1b). Dimensions 16.3 x 8.0 (text area 11 x 5.5) cm; 20 lines per page. The title is given on fol. 1b as al-Fann al-thālith fī al-amrād al-mukhtaṣar; fol. 1a is blank. The author is not named.

The copy is undated and unsigned; The appearance of the paper, script, and ink suggests a date of the 16th-17th century. The paper, though similar in color, is different from that of the rest of the volume (item 2, fols. 2a-294b catalogued above). It is also written in a different hand.

Only the opening page of the third part (fann) of an unidentified treatise is preserved. Following the title, the discussion begins with diseases of the brain; all but the first folio is missing.

The fragment is written in a different hand from the rest of manuscript. It is written in a medium-small professional naskh using black ink with some passages in red. There are catchwords.

The brown, thin, semi-glossy paper has horizontal straight laid lines and single chain lines; no watermark is visible. The paper, though similar in color, is different from the rest of the volume.

The volume consists of 295 leaves. Fol. 1a is blank; fol. 295a is blank while 295b has only a few miscellaneous short notes. Fol. 1b is the item here catalogued; fols. 2a-294b (item 2) is the anonymous Kitāb al-Mayāmir catalogued immediately above.

Binding

The volume is bound in blue and white printed paper with floral and geometrical designs pasted over black leather on back and front covers. There are brown leather doublures and modern paper endpapers.

Provenance

The volume was acquired in 1941 by the Army Medical Library from A.S. Yahuda who acquired it in Homs, Syria (ELS 1759 med. 57).

References

Schullian/Sommer, Cat. of incun. & MSS., entry A39 (this item not described).

NLM Microfilm Reel: FILM 48-119 no. 6