Al-Ḥakīm

Many Arabic authors who have written about Van Dyck’s life and work call him al-Ḥakīm, the wise. The title was traditionally used for medical doctors who also worked in other scientific fields, as was often the case in the Middle Ages. The title was appropriate for Van Dyck, who was well-versed in medicine, chemistry, astrono my, mathematics, theology, and law.

His greatest accomplishments were scientific and scholarly, defined by rational thought. According to his student Jurji Zaydan, he never allowed his religious faith to intrude upon this work.³⁸⁰ When the Syria Mission identified a lack of materials throughout the educational sector, Van Dyck made this cause his own. His advocacy for education in the natural sciences was without parallel in Syria. Even today, his name figures prominently in Arabic historiographies of the nineteenth century.

In 1853, the JAOS published Van Dyck’s article about the current state of the medical profession in Syria.³⁸¹ The article demonstrated his thorough knowl-edge of the history of Arab medicine,³⁸² as well as his ongoing research into the manu scripts of classical scholars like Avicenna, Abucasis, Avenzoar, Averroes and Rhazes.³⁸³ Although Avicenna was still very influential among Arab doctors, Van Dyck was not able to locate any complete manuscripts of his works.³⁸⁴ There were, however, translations of Greek scholars like Hippocrates, Aristotle, Paracelsus, and Galen, whose influence was just as great. Van Dyck remarked critically that merely owning such manuscripts was often enough to be considered a doctor in Syria.³⁸⁵ Medical knowledge in the Arab world was in a rudimentary state.³⁸⁶ Ignorance, in-correct treatments, and the superstition that autopsies mutilated the dead, although they might precisely explain the reasons for illness,³⁸⁷ inspired Van Dyck’s own mission to reinvigorate medical science in the region. “The West has plundered the East of a large part of its literature,” Van Dyck wrote in his article for the JAOS.

379 Binay, “Revision of the manuscripts of the ‘so-called Smith-Van Dyck Bible,’” 83–84.

380 Philipp, Ğurğī Zaidān, 34.

381 Van Dyck, “On the Present Condition of the Medical Profession in Syria,” 561–91.

382 Among other works, he studied Ibn Khallikan’s “Memoirs of the eminent men of Islamism.”

Ibid., 562.

383 Ibid., 561.

384 He did own an Arabic edition of Avicenna’s “Canon” that had been printed in Rome in 1593.

From a speech by Y. Sarruf, given at the dedication of busts of Van Dyck and Wortabet in 1913, in: al-Kulliyya 4, no. 6 (1913), cited in: Khuri, al-Rawad al-Muʾassasun li l-Jamiʿa al-Amiri-kiyya bi-Beyrut, 177.

385 Van Dyck, “On the Present Condition of the Medical Profession in Syria,” 570.

386 Medical knowledge in America and Europe at this time also did not yet meet standards of mod-ern medicine. In many cases, mission doctors still practiced bloodletting. See Daniel, “Ameri-can Influences in the Near East Before 1860,” 82.

387 Van Dyck, “On the Present Condition of the Medical Profession in Syria,” 574–78.

By reprinting the treasures of Arab scholars, European presses had helped to pre-serve them and ensure their accessibility in the libraries of Europe.³⁸⁸ To speak of

“plundering” is appropriate only insofar as these new editions did not find their way back to the Arab world. The neglect of education under Ottoman rule likewise played a role. The first medical schools were established in Egypt only during the early nineteenth-century reign of Muhammad ʿAli, through the influence of the French. By the mid-nineteenth century, graduates had translated more than sixty well-known European works into Arabic.³⁸⁹ Although well-to-do Syrians studied at these schools, the lack of knowledge about medicine in Syria remained widespread until the middle of the nineteenth century. According to Van Dyck, the Egyptians’

translations were not well executed, with insufficient consideration given to Arabic terms for sicknesses and medical conditions. These translations introduced West-ern terms for sicknesses where Arabic counterparts already existed. In other cases, Western terms were transliterated in such a way that they could no longer be recog-nized by European or Arab readers.³⁹⁰ The use of Latin terms was unavoidable for new scientific discoveries, but Van Dyck strove to find adequate Arabic words for previously known conditions.³⁹¹ By republishing al-Razi’s manuscript on smallpox and measles (Kitab fi l-Jadari wa l-Hasba li l-Razi) in 1872/73, Van Dyck wanted to demonstrate the contemporary relevance of this ninth- or tenth-century work, as nineteenth-century practitioners of Western medicine had again begun to use the methods of treatment it described.³⁹² In the book’s introduction, Van Dyck credited al-Razi as the first person to write about these diseases. Van Dyck clarified expres-sions that had fallen out of use, and he corrected al-Razi’s medical interpretations wherever they deviated from current scientific standards. Finally, Van Dyck added a bibliography of Greek works that had been translated into Arabic.³⁹³

Van Dyck’s work as an author was not limited to the field of medicine. In forty years, he wrote or translated around thirteen theological texts, and around twen-ty-three³⁹⁴ non-fiction works on geography, geology, algebra, geometry,

chemis-388 Ibid., 569.

389 Saʾdi, “Al-Hakîm Cornelius Van Allen Van Dyck,” 22.

390 Van Dyck, “On the Present Condition of the Medical Profession in Syria,” 570.

391 For example, khounāq (diptheria): see Jaha, Nashar Makhtuṭa “Amrad al-ʿAyn” bi-Beyrut.

Khuri, Al-Duktur Kurnilyus Fan Dayk, 108–9: Van Dyck consulted numerous Arabic manu-scripts in order to compile a selection of specialized terms. For a general analysis of the meth-ods of translating scientific terminology into Arabic, and the problems that can occur, see M. S.

Elshakry, “Knowledge in Motion: The Cultural Politics of Modern Science Translations into Arabic,” ISIS 99, no. 4 (2008): 701–30.

392 Van Dyck, “On the Present Condition of the Medical Profession in Syria,” 562. In the new edition of al-Razi’s work, Van Dyck explained that the medical practitioners of past centuries had moved away from the methods of treatment suggested by al-Razi, introducing new ones that often led to death. The nineteenth century saw a return to methods described by al-Razi.

See Khuri, “Kurniliyus Fan Dayk, Muʾalafat al-ʿIlmiyya al-ʿArabiyya,” 399.

393 Ibid., 398–400.

394 There is not an exact number, in part because his authorship of some works has not been clearly established (see appendix I). There are also three unpublished manuscripts (Tibb al-ʿAyn [Oph-thalmology]; al-Bathulujiyya al-Mardiyya [Pathology of Disease]; al-Bathulujiyya al-ʿAma [General Pathology]). See Khuri, “Kurniliyus Fan Dayk,” 418. For the manuscript “Amrad

al-try, physics, astronomy, poeal-try, and dialectics. Only a few were pure translations.

Most were compilations of already familiar and current scientific facts; Van Dyck wrote an original introduction to each, explaining its importance to readers.³⁹⁵ He constantly worked to harmonize familiar Arabic vocabulary with the different sciences. This is readily evident in his geography textbook from 1851, Kitab al-Mirʾat al-Wadiyya fi l-Kurat al-Ardiyya (literally, “The clear mirror that reflects the earth,” or “a clarification of geography”), which also demonstrates his affection for poetic titles. To facilitate readers’ comprehension of new terms, he often pro-vided synonyms – such as jabal al-nār (fire mountain) and barkān (volcano), or al-baḥr al-muḥīṭ and al-ūqīyānūs (ocean).³⁹⁶ Foreign proper names were partially translated and transliterated (nahr al-missīsibī [Mississippi River], jabal al-alb [Al-pine mountains]). In other textbooks – including Usul al-Kimiya (Fundamentals of Chemistry, 1869) and Usul ʿIlm al-Haiʾa (Fundamentals of Astronomy, 1874) – he was able to incorporate existing terminology because of his familiarity with the works of Arab scholars from the Early Middle Ages. (For example: al-kibrīt = sul-fur; al-fiḍḍa = silver; ziʾbaq = quicksilver; ʿuṭārid = mercury) He transliterated only those terms that were completely unknown in the Arabic-speaking world.³⁹⁷ With older or lesser known Arabic phrasings, Van Dyck included explanatory comments.

Many of his books became reference works for students of all grade levels. These books not only provided current information about scientific developments, but also demonstrated the continued relevance of Arab scholars from past centuries. In his last book, which he published about astronomy in 1893,³⁹⁸ he noted that his list-ing of Arab scholars (many of whom had lived in the Abbasid era) included only a small portion of those who had helped to advance science within the Arab world.³⁹⁹

Van Dyck’s manuscript about eye diseases (Amrad al-ʿAyn) was newly printed in 1992, on the occasion of the AUB’s 125th anniversary and the opening of an eye bank at the university’s medical center.⁴⁰⁰ An article about the manuscript, which appeared in the newspaper al-Anbiyaʾ (1992), emphasizes the author’s ingenuity.

Van Dyck had to introduce new terms for the various eye diseases, since he could not refer to any other work from past centuries. The prevalence of eye diseases among the Arab population alerted Van Dyck to a lack of specialized knowledge.

On his first trip to the United States, he learned more about the field of microscopy and brought the first microscope to Syria.⁴⁰¹ On his second trip, when he resided in New York for two years (1865–1867), he paid for additional training in oph-thalmology with income from his professorship at Union Theological Seminary.⁴⁰²

ʿAyn,” see below. Glaß (“Der Missionar Cornelius van Dyck,” 187) refers to twenty-nine Ara-bic books and twenty articles in AraAra-bic periodicals.

395 In “Kurniliyus Fan Dayk,” Khuri discusses Van Dyck’s introductions to each work.

396 Ibid., 390–91.

397 Ibid., 398 and 402.

398 Kitab Aruʾ al-Tama min Muhasin al-Qubba al-Zarqaʾ (literally, “Extinguishing the thirst for the beauty of the heavens”). For more, see appendix I.

399 Khuri, “Kurniliyus Fan Dayk,” 416.

400 This was a center for cornea transplants.

401 Saʾdi, “Al-Hakîm Cornelius Van Allen Van Dyck,” 29; Penrose, “That they may have life”, 37.

402 Saʾdi, “Al-Hakîm Cornelius Van Allen Van Dyck,” 29.

Van Dyck presumably wrote the manuscript in the years thereafter, when he was teaching at the SPC. It is not known why the manuscript was never published, since need for such a textbook clearly existed. Significantly, Van Dyck did not neglect the potential of traditional remedies. He not only introduced around forty new chemi-cal medications for eye ailments and explained the anatomy of the eye; he also discussed popular remedies in Syria, often involving plants and herbs, in order to analyze their efficacy. In a 1992 article, J^urJ J^aha noted that Van Dyck’s language and specialized terminology would not have been easily comprehensible to readers who were not well versed in formal Arabic.⁴⁰³

Van Dyck’s introduction of specialized terminology into Arabic, and the spread of his textbooks throughout Syria, and even into Egypt and Persia, meant that the mission doctor exerted a formative influence on several scientific fields within the Arab world. Already in 1876/77, the first volume of Muqtataf (edited by Van Dyck’s students Yaʿqub Sarruf and Faris Nimr) featured the same illustrations and chemi-cal terminology as Van Dyck’s textbook Usul al-Kimiya (1869).⁴⁰⁴ Glaß has, for example, noted that both publications use haidrūjīn (or hīdrujīn) for “hydrogen,”

ḥāmiḍ haidrūklūrīk for “hydrochloric acid,” and tabalwara for “crystallizing.”⁴⁰⁵ Thus, the journal played a role in the transfer of specialized scientific terminology into the vocabulary of generally educated readers. Van Dyck’s textbooks were not only used in Syria, but also in Egyptian schools and at Cairo’s Al-Azhar University, since his former students who edited Muqtataf helped to popularize the new text-books in Egypt.⁴⁰⁶

There was hardly a Syrian periodical with Christian publishers that did not publish articles by Van Dyck. The mission doctor and scientist was also a popu-lar author. Van Dyck wrote numerous articles for the journal al-Jinan, which was founded by his longtime friend Butrus al-Bustani in 1870. Van Dyck used the ency-clopedia-like periodical as a platform for his scientific findings in fields like chem-istry and biology.⁴⁰⁷

In his adopted homeland, Van Dyck realized his scholarly ambitions most fully at the Syrian Protestant College. Together with John Wortabet, he established the college’s medical department; George Post joined them later.⁴⁰⁸ Van Dyck initially taught botany and chemistry three times each week.⁴⁰⁹ He later lectured on internal

403 Jaha, “Nashar Makhtuṭa ‘Amrad al-ʿAyn’ bi-Beyrut.”

404 Glaß, “Der Missionar Cornelius van Dyck,” 193–94; Glaß, Der Muqtaṭaf und seine Öffent-lichkeit, 220 (figure 20): the barometer from Van Dyck’s chemistry book (p. 12); ibid., 221 (figure 21): the barometer illustration in al-Muqtataf 1 (1876/77), 36–37.

405 Ibid., 204: Likewise, Muqtataf borrowed terms for ocean and volcano (see above) that were used in the geography book. For more on this topic, see Glaß, “Der Missionar Cornelius van Dyck,” 193–94.

406 Saʾdi, “Al-Hakîm Cornelius Van Allen Van Dyck,” 36.

407 See, for example, “Aujuh al-Mushabiha beyn al-Hayawan wa l-Nabat,” (External Similarities Between Plants and Living Beings) al-Jinan 1 (1870), 10–11; “Fi Bitruliyum ay al-Kaz,” (Pe-troleum as a Gas) in: ibid., 468–70; “al-Zayt al-Amrikani,” (The American Olive Tree] in: ibid., 77–79, 112–14, 140–41, 174–75, and 208–11.

408 SPC annual report (June 24, 1868): ABC 16.8.2., Vol. 2, 2.

409 Khuri, “Nashat al-Duktur Kurniliyus Fan Dayk,” 22.

medicine, pathology, and theology,⁴¹⁰ and Edwin Lewis and George Post assumed responsibility for chemistry and botany. Van Dyck transformed another one of his passions into an avocation in 1873, offering instruction in astronomy and meteor-ology with a telescope that he had acquired himself.⁴¹¹ He found a peaceful respite in observing the stars and measuring changes in climate.⁴¹²

Since the establishment of the medical department, the college presided over a kind of clinic that gave students the opportunity to acquire practical experience.⁴¹³ Because eye diseases were common among the population at this time, many pa-tients came to the SPC clinic with similar symptoms. This situation, exacerbated by the clinic’s inability to admit patients who had traveled a long distance, inspired Van Dyck’s 1869 proposal for a specialized eye clinic that would be affiliated with the college. That same year, the Brown Ophthalmic Hospital was established with the help of monetary donations from the United States, obtained through Van Dyck’s appeal to Dr. Adams at the Madison Square Church in New York.⁴¹⁴ Van Dyck became its director.⁴¹⁵ SPC annual reports do not indicate whether or not the hospital was linked administratively and financially with the college. The eye clinic apparently lasted for only a short time, because in 1871 Van Dyck initiated negotiations to cooperate with the Prussian hospital of the Johanniter Order, which had opened in 1866.⁴¹⁶ The Kaiserswerth deaconesses, who had served in Beirut in 1862, assumed responsibility for the hospital in 1867.⁴¹⁷ From this point forward, professors at the college worked regularly at the hospital, and medical students had the opportunity to gain professional experience there.

Despite his intensive engagement on behalf of the college, Van Dyck insisted upon receiving the same pay as his colleagues.⁴¹⁸ As he himself stated, the well-be-ing of the SPC was near and dear to his heart. Even at the expense of his own health,

410 After the merging of the ʿAbeih academy and the college in 1881, Van Dyck also lectured in natural theology and Old Testament exegesis. See Jessup, Fifty-Three Years in Syria, vol. 2, 496.

411 Van Dyck is frequently celebrated for covering a large part of the costs to establish the chemis-try laboratory and the observatory, although instructors in other disciplines made similar con-tributions. The young college did not have the financial resources to meet all of its professional needs, so it relied on the generosity of its professors. See SPC annual report (June 1869): ABC 16.8.2., Vol. 2, 7. Because Van Dyck owned the telescope, the Board of Trustees purchased it from him after his resignation in 1882 (see below). See SPC annual report (July 10, 1883):

ABC 16.8.2., Vol. 2, 77.

412 Saʾdi, “Al-Hakîm Cornelius Van Allen Van Dyck,” 32.

413 SPC annual report (June 24, 1868): ABC 16.8.2., Vol. 2, 3.

414 See Van Dyck’s letter to the college faculty (Beirut, February 6, 1869), cited in: SPC annual report (June 24, 1870): ABC 16.8.2., Vol. 2, 14–15.

415 Van Dyck to the president and faculty of the SPC (February 6, 1869), in: SPC annual report (June 1869): ABC 16.8.2., Vol. 2, 9.

416 The institution was frequently called the Johanniter hospital, although it was no longer man-aged by the German order. The Johanniter first established a men’s hospital in Sidon in 1861. It moved to Beirut in 1862, eventually closing because of insufficient funds. In 1866, the Johan-niter hospital reopened in Beirut. See Kaminsky, Innere Mission im Ausland, 34.

417 SPC annual report (June 27, 1871): ABC 16.8.2., Vol. 2, 20–21; Penrose, “That they may have life”, 34–36.

418 Philipp, Ğurğī Zaidān, 179.

he was prepared to dedicate every minute towards its progress.⁴¹⁹ Van Dyck’s stu-dents admired his knowledge, his generosity, and his efforts to ensure that their studies were successful. Thomas Philipp has written that “the students adored van Dyck; they praised his virtues, merits and kindness.”⁴²⁰ His reputation extended beyond the walls of the college. He was widely believed to have founded the SPC, which was sometimes called Madrasat Fāndayk (Van Dyck School).⁴²¹ The gap that remained after Van Dyck’s departure in 1882 could not be filled by a new in-structor. It seems surprising that an institution as renowned as the SPC would let go of its best instructor, holding fast to its religious principles. The circumstances that led to the resignations of Van Dyck, William Van Dyck,⁴²² and chemistry and geology professor Edwin Lewis had to do with the scandal surrounding Lewis’s commencement address (described in chapter I, section 1.5). The new teachings of the British researcher Charles Darwin touched off a conflict between liberal and conservative factions at the SPC. Darwin’s theory of evolution did not shake Van Dyck’s religious convictions. As a scientist, he felt obliged to respect this theory and engage with it rationally.⁴²³ The freedom of thought and expression that he espoused to his students was at stake.⁴²⁴ In this regard, he was well ahead of his conservative colleagues. Van Dyck’s decision to give up his teaching position was certainly not caused by these events alone. His letter of resignation, written to the Board of Trustees in New York on December 18, 1882, states:

The course taken by Dr. Bliss and Dr. Post for some time past in College matters, and the fact that I differ from them radically as to the principle which should guide the Faculty in the man-agement of so important an institution, have led to such a divergence between us, that, finding myself powerless to remedy a state of things which I truly deplore, I can no longer consistently retain my connection with the College.⁴²⁵

Even before the events surrounding Edwin Lewis’s speech, numerous factors had contributed to an impending crisis at the college – beginning with the administra-tion’s objections to Lewis’s behavior, although his relationship with Daniel Bliss had not been troubled during his first years at the college.⁴²⁶ In addition, there was

419 Van Dyck, in: Sarruf and Nimr, “al-Duktur Kurniliyus Fan Dayk,” part 1, 886.

420 Philipp, Ğurğī Zaidān, 179.

421 From S. al-Din al-Munajid, ed., Mudhakirrat Jurji Zaydan (Beirut, 1968) 65, cited in: Juha, Darwin wa Azma 1882 bi l-Daʾira al-Tibbiyya, 54.

422 Penrose, “That they may have life,” 36–37: William studied at the SPC between 1875 and 1878, completing his studies at New York University’s medical college. SPC annual reports do not indicate when he was hired as an instructor.

423 As stated by Jurji Zaydan in: Philipp, Ğurğī Zaidān, 180.

424 From Mudhakirrat Jurji Zaydan, 273, cited in: Khuri, al-Duktur Kurnilyus Fan Dayk, 164:

According to Zaydan, in the college’s early years it was not at all unusual to express one’s

According to Zaydan, in the college’s early years it was not at all unusual to express one’s

Im Dokument The Mission of the American Board in Syria (Seite 145-155)