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Catalogue: Pharmaceutics

[Fī Duhn] (MS A 87, item 8): (Concerning Oils); فى دهن; Anonymous

This short, anonymous essay consists of extracts from various sources that are concerned with oils (duhn), followed by miscellaneous recipes transcribed in a number of hands.

No other copy has been identified.

Physical Description

Arabic. 4 leaves (fols. 97a-100a). Dimensions 23.2 x 15.8 (text area 17.8 x 11.5, variable) cm; 24-26 lines per page. Title is provided by the cataloguer, for the treatise begins immediately with a recipe for a duhn.

The copy is undated. The general appearance of the paper, ink, and script suggests a date of the 18th century.

The text is written is a fairly inelegant medium-small naskh script using black ink. There are headings in red and red overlinings on fol. 97ab, after which the text is written in black ink only. It was transcribed by the same unnamed copyist as copied the latter part of the third item in the volume (MS A 87, item 3).

The volume consists of 186 leaves. It is a mixed volume with 18 different items in it, copied by at least two different copyists. Item 1 (fols. 1a-3b) is an anonymous alchemical fragment (MS A 87, item 1), item 2 (fols. 4a-54a) is the abridgement of a treatise called al-Bayān by Ibn Jazlah (MS A 87, item 2), and item 3 (fols. 54b-64b) extracts from al-Bayān [by Ibn Jazlah] (MS A 87, item 3). Item 4 (fols. 65b-68a) is an anonymous, untitled essay on stones (MS A 87, item 4), item 5 (fols. 68b-74a) an anonymous collection of therapeutic procedures (MS A 87, item 5), and item 6 (fols. 74a-75b) on regimen for infants, extracted from Kitāb al-Bayān [? Ibn Jazlah] (MS A 87, item 6). Item 7 (fols. 76a-96b) is the anonymous treatise on materia medica (MS A 87, item 7); item 8 (fols. 97a-100a) an anonymous tract on medicinal oils here catalogued, and item 9 (fols. 100b-121a) a magical-medical treatise by Ibn Tūmart al-Maghribī (MS A 87, item 9). Item 10 (fols. 121b-125a) is an anonymous alphabetical list of medicaments (MS A 87, item 10), and item 11 (fols. 125b-140b) is the commentary on an identified "poem on the principles of the art of medicine" (MS A 87, item 11). Item 12 (fols. 140b-142a) contains selections from Kitāb al-Ḥāwī fī ‘ilm al-tadāwī by Najm al-Din al-Shirazi (MS A 87, item 12), and item 13 (fols. 142b-157b, 159a-172a) is an untitled anonymous treatise in five chapters on medicine, magic, and divination (MS A 87, item 13). Item 14 (fols. 172b-174a) is an anonymous tract on divination (MS A 87, item 14), item 15 (fols. 174b-175a) untitled extracts from medical writings (MS A 87, item 15), and item 16 (fols. 175a-181b) is an anonymous astrological treatise (MS A 87, item 16). Item 17 (fols. 182a-184b) is an anonymous treatise titled Dā'ir muḥibb fī ‘ilm al-ṭibb , on magical medicine (MS A 87, item 17), while the final item, item 18 (fols. 185a-186b), is an anonymous essay on the numerical values of letters and magic squares (MS A 87, item 18).

Binding

The volume is bound in pasteboards covered with brown leather, over which light-brown paper has been placed on the covers. There is a recent brown leather spine. The paper pastedowns are contemporary with the manuscript and are covered with miscellaneous notes.

Provenance

There is an owner's signature dated 1268 [= 1851-2] on fol. 3b of the volume, and there are several owners's notes on fol. 4a, none apparently dated.

The volume was purchased in 1941 by the Army Medical Library from A.S. Yahuda, who acquired it from a dealer in Sanaa, the Yemen (ELS 2369).

References

Schullian/Sommer, Cat. of incun. & MSS., pp. 326-7 entry A87 (this item is not listed).

NLM Microfilm Reel: FILM 48-129 no. 4

Risālah fī tarkīb al-adwiyah al-mufradah (MS A 16, item 2): (Treatise on the Preparation of Compound Remedies); رساله فى تركيب الادويه المفردة

No other copy has been identified.

Physical Description

Arabic. 5 leaves (fols. 40b-44b). Dimensions 17.2 x 10.7 (text area 12.5 x 7.6) cm; 18 lines per page. The title is given on fol. 40b, line 1; no author is given.

A complete copy.

The copy is undated. The general appearance of the paper, ink, and script suggests a dating of the 16th century.

The text is written in the same hand as the first item in the volume, in a small naskh script using brown-black ink with headings in red and red overlinings. There are catchwords.

There are a few marginal corrections, apparently by the copyist.

The biscuit, semi-glossy paper has very wavy horizontal laid lines but no chain lines. There is some water-staining of the paper, and it is soiled with grease. The tops of fols. 42 and 43 have been repaired and some text is missing.

The volume consists of 44 leaves. Fols. 1b-40a (item 1) contain the medical encyclopaedia by Mas‘ūd ibn Muḥammad al-Sijzī (MS A 16, item 1); fols. 40b-44b (item 2) contain the anonymous treatise on compound remedies here catalogued. Both treatises were copied by the same scribe.

Binding

The volume is bound in pasteboards covered with brown leather, with a blind-tooled medallion (mandorla in form, with inner field of flowers and vines) in the center of each cover.

Provenance

Fol. 1a has impressions of four small, rectangular owners' stamps (illegible) and nine owners' notes (no dates or names are legible). Fol. 44b has an impression of a different, circular, owner's stamp.

The volume was purchased in 1941 by the Army Medical Library from A.S. Yahuda, who acquired it from a dealer in An Najaf in Iraq (ELS no. 1753, Med. 49).

References

Schullian/Sommer, Cat. of incun. & MSS., p. 302, entry A 16; this item not described.

NLM Microfilm Reel: FILM 48-115 no. 2