source: https://doi.org/10.7892/boris.115476 | downloaded: 1.2.2022
Essay Review
FATEMEKESHAVARZ:Adescriptive and analytical catalogue of Persian manuscripts in the Library ofthe WellcomeInstituteforthe HistoryofMedicine,London,Wellcome Institute for the History of Medicine, 1986,4to, pp. 705,illus., £35.00, $55.00.
Theinvestigation of Persianmedicine in the Islamic period is still in itsbeginnings. Much of the sourcematerial spread inmanylibraries has still to be catalogued and evaluated before a substantialsurveyreaching the standard of Manfred Ullmann'sDieMedizinimIslam-which, despite its comprehensivetitle, deals with Arabic medicine exclusively-can be hoped for.Atthe present momentthiscatalogueseems tobe onlythe second of its kind, after Richter-Bernburg's 1978catalogue of the Persian medical manuscriptsatthe University ofCalifornia,Los Angeles, of whichDrKeshavarz made ampleuse.
The general ideaonehas been abletoformsofar is that Persian medicinewashardlymore thananepigonal continuation ofArabic medicine. The latterwas,accordingtoUllmann, mainly arenaissance of Greek medicine withonlyafewsporadic contributions of itsown,its mainmerit lyingin the systematizationofthe inherited knowledge. This impressionas tothegeneral natureof Persian medicine isprobablycorrect,but it needstobeverified and, ifnecessary,modified by detailedsourcestudies. The cataloguing ofmanuscripts isonepreliminary, but importantstep ontheway tothisgoal.Itis, therefore,tobe welcomed thatDrKeshavarzhas undertaken the difficult task ofwritingacatalogue of the large collection of Persian manuscripts in the Library of the WellcomeInstitute, the bulk of which is, in fact, medical.
Inherinterestingintroduction, the authorpresents ageneralsurveyof thecollection, giving prominenceto anumberof particularly valuable textsand theillustrated manuscripts. Even though it becomes evident from thesepagesthather main interestsareliterature andSufism,the history of sciences isnotneglected. Byaskilfulchoice ofnamesandsubjects,ageneral idea of the dimensions and the value of this precious collection is outlined for the reader. Ashort, but enlighteningexcursusis includedon oneof the non-medicalmanuscripts,theTuhfatal-'Iraqayn byKhaqani.Thistext, aversified description of the author'spilgrimagetoMecca, isshown tobe aremarkablepiece ofpoesiadocta, containing about 120 referencestomedicalmatters.On the otherhand,animportantaspectof medicine inIslam, the so-called"prophetic medicine",isnot discussed;and the short mention of"mystical,orquasi-magicalactivitiesincludingnumerology, letterexercises, ('ilm-ihuruifor'ilm-ijafr), techniques of prognostication (e.g.'ilm-iraml), and theconstructionof talismans andamulets", ranging them with modern "therapy by suggestion or para-psychology" (p. 27) is no more than a hint of how and by what competence this complicated problemcould, andshould, bebroached.
Inthecatalogue, the author describesmorethan600manuscriptscoveringa vastvariety of fields-frommedicine, mathematics,andmagictoSufism, rhetoric,andmusic-andanepoch of nine centuries. The classification of this materialwas amajor task,andthis has been handled verydiligently by the author. Thus hersubject classification for medicine isverydetailed: under suchlarger subdivisionsas"diagnosis", "therapy", and "anatomy" aresubheadings such as those under"therapy": local and generaldiseases, general diseases, fevers, sexualdisorders, venerealdiseases, sexual hygiene, gynaecology andpaediatrics, local diseases.
Everymanuscript is describedaccordingto astandardpattern includingthetitle;author's name; contents; features of themanuscriptor, insomecases, severalmanuscriptsofonetext, sometimes numbering up to ten or more; then the incipit and excipit, followed by some indications as to if, andwhere, other manuscripts of this text exist. Thedescriptions of the external features of each manuscript include all the peculiarities usually mentioned in a catalogueof this standard suchassize,kind ofpaper,dating, damage,flyleaves,etc.The titles aregivenin Arabicscriptand Romantransliterations; unfortunately theyare nottranslated. The authors are identified with thehelpofreference works(Browne,Richter-Bernburg, Rieu,Storey,
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etc.). The content is briefly and often concisely, but sometimes too vaguely, summarized.
Occasionally, the titlesof chapters or sections areindicated,but in most cases afulllisting of the chapterheadings is not given, certainly due toconsiderations ofspace.
The value of the catalogue is enhanced bytwoglossariesand sixindexes, as well as by ten plates, seven of them in colour.
It is admirable that the author, although primarily interested in fictional literature, should have embarked on thedescriptionofmanuscriptsdealing withphilosophy,medicine, and other natural sciences and managed to tackle the task, despite some shortcomings which I shall mention below. She was even ableto correct errorscommittedby other scholars and to suggest ascriptions of works toprobableauthors; heridentificationof a number of translations from Sanskrit and other Indian languages is also noteworthy.
The impressivesize of thiscatalogue, itsneatpresentation,and theconsiderable amountof knowledge and enormous diligence it displays make it a highly meritorious achievement, particularlyinview of the youth of the author and her not being a trained medicalhistorian.It is onlynatural that such work should leave some wishesunfulfilled. In listing them, I do not wish todiminish thecatalogue's indisputable qualities.
First of all, one would have wished to read some significantquotationshere and there aside from the in-andexcipits; important as they are for the identificationof themanuscript, they yield littleor noinformationas to thescientificvalue of the text.Likewise,references to related Arabic medical works are missing in cases where one is curious to know if such relationsexist.
Further questions arise in connection with particularitems:
(no. 61) Is the Kitab ar-Rahmah fi al-tibb wa-al-hikmah really the translation of an anonymousArabic work, or is it perhaps related to Muhammad ibn'Ali as-Sanaubari's(d. AH 815/AD1412) Kitab ar-Rahmah,awork onmedicinestrongly infiltrated byPropheticmedicine (mentioned by A. Dietrich in his Medicinalia arabica, item 96)? The title of the Persian translation suggests, at any rate, that this is aworkon Propheticmedicine, but in her short indication of thecontent theauthor makes no reference in thisdirection.
(no. 66) Is there a connection between such texts as the Mu'alajat-i jadvaliyah and Ibn Butlin's Taqwim as-sihhah?
(no. 70) What are the"mentalproblems" treated inMuntakhab-i dava'al-Hind; and has the content a definable Indian provenance or is it related to the Greek-Islamic strand of psychotherapy?
(no. 244) In what sense is theTali'namah, containing"acollection ofhoroscopesfor men and women inseparatesections arrangedaccording to thesigns ofthezodiac", and attributed to Galen, affiliated to anyGalenic tradition?
(no. 364) Which occult practice is meant by jastan-ia'zi'("leaping ofthelimbs"), mentioned in a treatiseon"foretelling thefuture" throughvarious devices?
How-if at all!-are the two texts attributed toAristotle, (no. 191,Faras'namah,abookon horses, and no. 216,Risalah-'iMi Bil,abook ofmedicalquestions and answers)linked with the Arabic tradition ofAristotelianisminmedievalIslam? Theinformationgivenby the authorthat MiBilwas"translated from the Greek Problemata" only enhances the reader'scuriosity: is this adirect Persian translation fromtheGreek? Dosuch translationsexist,atall?Or wasitmade from an Arabic version, and would a comparison with the version made by Hunayn (cf.
Ullmann, item 93) lead to adefinite answer?
(no. 268, p. 443) One of the flyleaves in this manuscript contains "notes on the medical properties of the various organs of elephants attributed to Galen". If this is an authentic attribution, which I am unable to check at present, it strikes me as curious that Galen should have beenan authority for themedical properties of elephants rather than an Indian scholar!
Itwould, however, certainly be unfair to expect such questions to be answered in acatalogue whose purpose is to list and classify the material. In what follows I make some minor corrections and suggestions for possible emendations:
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Essay Review page 20: Read mu'alajah instead of mu'alijah.
no. 54: Instead of mushakkikinread probablymutashakkikin, for reasons oflexicography andof analogy.The twotitles mentioned inthis item areevidently constructed after the same pattern:sinceonetitle is Ta'dibal-muta'assibin,theother should be Tanbihal-mutashakkikin.
In the incipit of this item the Arabic is incorrect. Instead of sirat al-mustaqim and maslak al-qawimit should beas-siratal-mustaqim andal-maslak al-qawim.
no. 62:At the end of this itemaquotationis announced, buthas not been inserted.
no.74:TheobscureauthorLuqman (-i)Hakim Shibis in all likelihood the Koranic Luqman.
Thereader might have been referredto no. 202,wherethe same "author" occurs, this time with the title "hadrat", used forprophets and saints.Toattribute medical knowledgeto aKoranic figure, where in former timesone would perhaps have attributed ittosuch mythic figuresas HermesorAgathodaimon,seems to me afine example of Islamization.Intheindex of authors, no. 74should be added under"Luqman".
no.123:Read,probably, qatil al-abdan instead of qayil al-abdan in the last line of "Content".
no.216:ThetitleRisalah-iMaBal is probablyderived fromtheArabicmabalufulan: "What is the state of, how feels so-and-so". But I doubt if this will be clearto many users of the catalogue.
no. 235: Ido notunderstand the meaning of"juitish".
no.460: Instead ofGanaka kitab, the transcription should rather be Ginaka kitab, which is Urdu and means "book of singing". This corresponds exactly with the content of this manuscript,"acollectionof shortlyricsinPanjibi, Kashmiri,Urdu andpredominantly Persian, each recommendedtobesunginacertain Persianmode, dastgah,oran Indianraga."
Thisisanexcellentcatalogue,eventhough it doesnotanswerall thequestionsa specialist might ask,norfulfil all theexpectationsacurious readermightfoster.Tohavecataloguedso many manuscripts in this clear, consistent, well-organized and scholarly form is a great achievement andagreatservicetoscholarsworkinginIslamic medicalhistory and related fields.
J. C. Burgel University ofBern
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