Catalogue: Medical Therapeutics
NLM has two anonymous treatises concerned with the treatment of a specific condition. One is only a very short discourse on the treatment of vomiting (MS P 28, item 2). The second, however, is a substantial treatise on fevers (MS A 15) which an earlier owner, and also Sommer in the earlier catalog, have attributed to Ibn al-Akfani, who died in 1348/749 (see Schullian/Sommer, Cat. of incun. & MSS., p. 320). There is little evidence to support this suggestion, however, and at this point the composition must be considered simply anonymous and written sometime before the 16th century.
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Kitāb Ghayhāt al-umniyāt fī ma‘rifat al-ḥummayāt (MS A 15) - (The Most That Could be Desired Concerning the Knowledge of Fevers)
- كتاب غياة الامنيات فى معرفة الحميات
- Anonymous
NLM has in its collection an Arabic treatise on fevers consisting of two chapters (jumlahs), the first of 8 sections (fasls) and the second of 13 sections (fasls). The author is not named. The anonymous author supplies a list of writings and authorities on the subject of fevers, all of the eleventh century or earlier, that he consulted in writing this treatise.
A recent Arabic note on a bookplate of the former owner A. S. Yahuda suggests that this treatise might be by Ibn al-Akfanī, who died in 1349/749. Ibn al-Akfani's name is also penciled, in Latin characters, on preliminary fol. [1a]. This manuscript was ascribed to Ibn al-Akfanī by Sommer (Schullian/Sommer, Cat. of incun. & MSS., p. 302). No such title as Ghayhāt al-umniyāt fī ma‘rifat al-ḥummayāt, however, is recorded in the bibliographical literature on Ibn al-Akfani or in other manuscript collections. For example, it is not listed in the exhaustive study of the writings of Ibn al-Akfani by J. J. Witkam, De Egyptische Arts Ibn al-Akfani (gest. 749/1348) en zijn Indelung van de Wetenschapen. Editie van het Kitab Irsad al-qasid ila asna al-maqasid met een Inleidung over het leven en werk van de auteur (Leiden: Ter Lugt Pers, 1989). For lack of evidence, it remains merely a suggestion that it is a treatise by Ibn al-Akfanī.
A treatise of identical title, Kitāb Ghayhāt al-umniyāt fī ma‘rifat al-ḥummayāt, and similar length and opening text, also anonymous, is in Istanbul, Nur ‘Uthmaniyah MS 3562, consisting of 39 folios. A treatise of the same title but of much greater length (255 fols.) written by Musá ibn Ibrahim ibn Musá al-Yaldani is recorded as being in Istanbul, Ahmet III MS 1961. See Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, ed., Catalogue of Islamic Medical Manuscripts in the Library of Turkey (Istanbul: the Research Centre for Islamic History, Art and Culture, 1984), pp. 436 and 391 respectively.
No other copies are recorded.
The treatise has not been published in a modern translation or edition.
Kitāb Ghayhāt al-umniyāt fī ma‘rifat al-ḥummayāt (MS A 15)
Illustrations
A chart from an anonymous treatise on fevers titled Kitāb Ghayhāt al-umniyāt fī ma‘rifat al-ḥummayāt (The Most That Could be Desired Concerning the Knowledge of Fevers). The copy is undated, probably 16th century.
Physical Description
Arabic. 49 leaves (fols. 1a-49a). Dimensions 21.5 x 15.2 (text area 15.5 x 9) cm; 17 lines per page. The title is found in the text (fol. 3a line 5) and on the title page (fol. 1a). The author is not named. A recent Arabic note on a bookplate of the former owner A. S. Yahuda suggests that this treatise might be by Ibn al-Akfanī; his name is also penciled, in Latin characters, on preliminary fol. [1a].
The copy is undated and unsigned. The appearance of the paper, ink, and script suggests a date of the 16th.
It is an incomplete copy; a complete copy would consist of two chapters (jumlahs), the first of 8 sections (fasls) and the second of 13 sections (fasls). In this copy text between fols. 10 and 11, comprising the eighth fasl of the first chapter and the beginning of the second chapter, is missing and would have occupied one folio.
The text is written in a medium-small naskh script, with some vocalization, in brown-black ink with headings in red. The text area has been frame-ruled. There are charts on fols. 4b-6b, drawn in red and black inks. The are catchwords. Quires of 12 leaves are numbered consecutively in Arabic numerals; one folio is missing between fol. 10 and fol. 11.
There are a few marginal notes correcting the text.
The cream, semi-glossy paper is think, with visible laid lines, single chain lines, and watermarks. There is some damage from dampness, and the paper is soiled from thumbing.
The volume consists of 50 leaves and 1 preliminary leaf. Fols. 49b, 50a and 50b are blank. Preliminary fol. [1a] is blank except for a miscellaneous note; preliminary fol. [1b] is blank.
Binding
The volume is bound in a modern library binding of tan leather; modern paper endpapers and pastedowns.
Provenance
The volume was purchased in 1941 by the Army Medical Library from A. S. Yahuda who acquired it in Egypt (ELS 1694, MS 65).
References
Schullian/Sommer, Cat. of incun. & MSS., entry A 15, p. 302, where the treatise is ascribed to Ibn al-Akfanī.
NLM Microfilm Reel: FILM 48-115 no. 1
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Fī al-istifrāgh (MS P 28, item 2)
- (On Vomiting)
- فى الاستفراغ
- Anonymous
This is a short Arabic discourse on the treatment of vomiting. There is no author given. It appears to have been added to a manuscript whose main items (including the one occupying the recto side of the beginning of this short tract) were copied in the mid-16th century and are in Persian. Therefore, it is likely to have been written by an owner of the manuscript sometime after the mid-16th century.
Fī al-istifrāgh (MS P 28 item 2)
Physical Description
Arabic. 2 leaves (fols. 10b-11a). Dimensions 18.2 x 12.2; text area 15.3 x 9.5) cm; 29 lines per page. The title appears in the first line of fol. 10b. No author is given.
The copy is undated and unsigned. The text begins on the back, verso, of a Persian treatise that was copied in 1552/959. Therefore, the present short text was copied sometime thereafter.
The text is written in a small, compact naskh tending toward ta‘liq in black ink with no rubrications. It is written in a different hand from the rest of the volume.
The glossy brown paper has only laid lines visible. The same paper has been used throughout the volume. It is waterstained, especially at the bottom. The paper is stained with grime and thumbing. The edges have been trimmed from their original size. Many folios have had the edges repaired, sometimes using recent watermarked paper.
The volume consists of 290 leaves and three preliminary leaves. Fols. 1a-10a (item 1) is an anonymous Persian illustrated treatise on astronomy copied in 1552/959 by the copyist Sadr al-Din al-mutatabbib (MS P 28, item 1) and fols. 10b-11a (item 2) is here catalogued. Fols. 11b-13a are blank except for later miscellaneous notes. Fols. 13b-14a (Item 3) is a story concerning Moses (MS P 28, item 3) and fols. 14b-289b (item 4) is the Kifāyah-i Mujāhidīyah by Manṣūr ibn Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad ibn Yūsuf Ibn Ilyās (MS P 28, item 4). Fol. 290 has miscellaneous notes. The preliminary fol. [1a] is blank except for a penciled title for item 4 of the volume; preliminary fol. [1b] is blank, but for a casual note dated 1284 [= 1867-8]; preliminary fol. [2a] has a recipe and two owners' notes and a stamp; preliminary fol. [3a] has miscellaneous notes written at different angles on the page; preliminary [3b] has miscellanous notes, including a horoscope for 29 Jumadá I 1070 [= 11 February 1660]. There is also a small loose sheet (15 x 11 cm) of watermarked (GAIGLIOTTI) paper with 15 lines of alternating black and magenta writings, with instructions for a talismanic and magical procedure.
Binding
The volume is bound in pasteboards covered with light-brown leather. On each cover there is a blind stamped medallion and two pendants, enclosed by a blind-tooled frame filled with s-shaped stamps; the space between the frame and the medallions has stamped diagonal lines. The spine has been repaired. There are dark-blue paper and modern endpapers.
Provenance
The volume was in the collection of the Army Medical Library in 1946. No further information is available on its provenance.
References
Schullian/Sommer,Cat. of incun. & MSS., p. 339 entry P28 (this item not mentioned)
