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Another fragment from the autograph of Ibn al-Tilmīdh's ‘Marginal commentary on Ibn Sīnā's Canon of medicine’1

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 December 2009

Albert Z. Iskandar
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Extract

The Christian physician Ibn al-Tilmīdh (d. 560/1165) was assisted by eminent doctors and philosophers of Baghdad in transcribing the five books of al-Qānūn fī 'l-ṭibb (Canon of medicine) by Ibn Sīnā, (d. 428/1037). Ibn al-Tilmīdh's own copy remained the definitive edition of this encyclopaedic work for centuries after his death.

Type
Articles
Information
Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies , Volume 44 , Issue 2 , June 1981 , pp. 253 - 261
Copyright
Copyright © School of Oriental and African Studies 1981

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References

2 Ibn al-Tilmīdh, I.

3 Browne, , Catalogue, 168Google Scholar.

4 Ibn al-Tilmīdh, I, 216 (and pl. Iv).

5 That Ibn al-Tilmīdh had access to Ibn Sīnā's autograph of al-Qānūn fi 'l-ṭibb is also mentioned by Ibn Jumai' al-Isrā'īlī (d. 594/1198). See Ibn al-Tilmīdh, I, 180.

6 Browne MS P.5 (10), fols. 44b; 101a (on an attached folio).

7 ibid., fol. 75b.

8 ibid., fols. la, 67a.

9 ibid., fol. 95a.

10 ibid., fols. 21b, 41b, 78b, 100b.

11 ibid., fol. la.

12 ibid., fol. 67a.

13 Ibn al-Tilmīdh, I, 184, 187–9.

14 ibid., 192–3.

15 Browne MS P.5 (10), fol. 216b. See plate facing p. 253 here

16 Browne, , Catalogue, 168Google Scholar; Browne MS P.5 (10), fol. 216b.

17 Browne MS P.5 (10), fol. la, 11. 1–7; Rome ed., p. 281,11. 14–18; Būlāq ed., II, 2,1. 16—3, 1. 4; Avicenna, fol. 165r, 11. 32–44. The incomplete passage … is omitted from the English translation.

18 For a sketch of the ‘tongue-depressor’ (kābis al-lisān), and accounts of the excision of the uvula and the tonsils, see Albucasis, pp. 300–11.

19 The word al-qālib (form, model or mould) is inappropriate in this context. The surgical instrument used in pulling the uvula and the tonsil downwards is the ‘hook’ (al-ṣinnāra). Ibn Sīnā. mentions al-ṣinnāra in connexion with the excision of the tonsil (see p. 258). Albucasis (pp. 303, 1. 2; 307, I. 10) mentions al-ṣinnāra in operations of the removal of the uvula and the tonsil.

20 Al-ḥiltīt is the resin of Ferula assa-foetida L., see Dioscorides, Arabic ed., II, 276 (no. 75); Dioscorides, English transl., 328 (no. 94); Hāwī, xx, 86 (no. 107); ibid., xx, 300 (no. 223); Maimonides, 12 (no. 18); Ibn al-Bayṭār, II, 27; Bedevian, 274 (no. 1609). The specific name ‘assa-foetida’ is also written as ‘asa-foetida’ (with options of two separate words, a hyphenated compound or a single word); ‘assa’ (or asa) is the Latinized version of the Persian āzā l;l (mastic), and ‘foetida’ relates to the alliaceous odour of this particular resin.

21 Dioscorides, Arabic ed., II, 422 (no. 88); Dioscorides, English transl., 642 (no. 123); Paulus Aegineta, III, 360; Ḥāwī, xxi/1, 117 (no. 501); Ibn al-Bayṭār, III, 53.

22 Al-qulqṭār is probably a kind of vitriol, see Diosoorides, Arabic ed., II, 418 (no. 81); Dioscorides, English transl., 639 (no. 115); Maimonides, 68 (no. 140); Ibn al-Bayār (II, 148), like Maimonides, mentions al-qulqaṭār under the general title zāj (vitriol).

23 Rubus fruticosus L., Dioscorides, Arabic ed., II, 322 (no. 31); Dioscorides, English transl., 432 (no. 37); Paulus Aegineta, III, 68; Ḥāwī, xxi/1, 192 (no. 559); Maimonides, 143 (no. 293); Ibn al-Bayṭār, III, 130; Bedevian, 515 (no. 3003).

24 Myrtus communis L., Dioscorides, Arabic ed., II, 109 (no. 120); Dioscorides, English transl., 81 (no. 155); Paulus Aegineta, III, 261; Ḥāwī, xx, 14 (no. 23); Maimonides, 9 (no. 10); Ibn al-Bayṭār, I, 27; Bedevian, 408 (no. 2374).

25 Vitis vinifera L., Dioscorides, Arabic ed., II, 373 (nos. 1, 2); Dioscorides, English transl., 601 (nos. 1, 2); Paulus Aegineta, III, 40; Ḥāwī, xxi/1, 318 (no. 690); Ibn al-Bayṭār, II, 22; ibid., iv, 56; Bedevian, 617 (no. 3614).

26 Rheum Ribes GRONOV., Dioscorides (Arabic ed., II, 238, no. 2; English transl., 233, no. 2) mentions ‘Rha’, ‘Ra’ and ‘Reon’, Rheum Rhaponticum L., but he does not mention ‘Ribes’ (rībās); Paulus Aegineta, III, 316; āwī, xx, 540 (no. 380); Maimonides, 175, no. 350 (Meyerhof mentions that the name rībās is also used among the Arabs for ‘currant’ and ‘currant bush’, Ribes rubrum L., but primarily it means Rheum Ribes GRONOV.); Ibn al-Bayṭār, II, 147; Bedevian, 508 (no. 2960).

27 Solatium nigrum L., Dioscorides, Arabic ed., II, 336 (no. 62); Dioscorides, English transl., 467 (no. 71); Ḥāwī, xxi/1, 195 (no. 562); Maimonides, 145 (no. 297); Ibn al-Bayṭār, III, 135; Bedevian, 556 (no. 3243).

28 Cydonia vulgaris Pers., Dioscorides, Arabic ed., II, 111 (no. 124); Dioscorides, English transl., 83 (no. 160); Ḥāwī, xxi/1, 10 (no. 428); Maimonides, 59 (no. 119); Bedevian, 219 (no. 1304).

29 The word al-kūhsārk, which could not be traced in standard reference books, baffled the Latin translator of Avicenna's Canon; he transliterated this word, supposed to be the name of a drug attributed to Diogenes, as ‘alcuezric’. See Avicenna, fol. 239r, 1. 16. For another nonsensical word in al-Qānūn fi 'l-ṭibb, discovered by Ibn al-Tilmīdh himself, and the comments of his successor Ibn Jumai' al-Isrā'īlī, see Ibn al-Tilmīdh, I, 185, 224.

30 Plantago major L., Dioscorides, Arabic ed., II, 196 (no. 126); Dioscorides, English transl., 165 (no. 153); Paulus Aegineta, in, 52; Ḥāwī, xxi/2, 393 (no. 745); Maimonides, 106 (no. 213); Ibn al-Bayṭār, Iv, 107; Bedevian, 469 (no. 2733).

31 The resin of Popirtus nigra L. is called al-kahrabā', see Dioscorides, Arabic ed., II, 84 (no. 89); Dioscorides, English transl., 60 (no. 113); Ibn al-Tilmīdh, I, 216 (note 178, and pl. iv); Ibn al-Bayṭār, II, 42; ibid., iv, 88.

32 Dioscorides, Arabic ed., II, 417 (no. 79); Dioscorides, English transl., 638 (no. 113); Paulus Aegineta, III, 83; Ḥāwī, xxi/1, 163 (no. 546); Maimonides, 84 (no. 172); Ibn al-Bayṭār, III, 106.

33 Browne MS P.5 (10), fols. 215b, 1. ll–216b, 1. 7; Rome ed., pp. 384, 1. 37–385, 1. 10; Būlāq ed., n pp. 207, 1. 19–208, 1. 18; Avicenna, fols. 238v, 1. 52–239r, 1. 16.