Questions and Answers for Physicians: A Medieval Arabic Study Manual by Abd Al-Aziz Al-Sulami (Sir Henry Wellcome Asian Series)

264 Pages·2004·9.65 MB·English

by  Abd Al-Aziz Al-Sulami

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QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS FOR PHYSICIANS
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SIR HENRY WELLCOME
ASIAN STUDIES
edited by
LAWRENCE I. CONRAD
DOMINIK WUJASTYK
PAUL U. UNSCHULD
Editorial Board
DONALD J. HARPER
GUY ATTEWELL
RONALD E. EMMERICK ( † )
VOLUME 3
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QUESTIONS AND
ANSWERS FOR
PHYSICIANS
A Medieval Arabic Study Manual
by #Abd al-#AzÊz al-SulamÊ
TRANSLATED, EDITED, AND WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY
GARY LEISER
and
NOURY AL-KHALEDY
BRILL
LEIDEN (cid:127)BOSTON
2004
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This book is printed on acid-free paper.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Al-Sulami, #Abd al-#Aziz.
Questions and answers for physicians : a medieval Arabic study manual by #Abd al-#Aziz
Al-Sulami / translated, edited, and with an introduction by Gary Leiser and Noury
Al-Khaledy.
p. cm. — (The Sir Henry Wellcome Asian series)
ISBN 90-04-13671-1
1. Medicine, Arab—History. 2. Medicine, Medieval. 3. Medicine—Study and teaching.
I. Leiser, Gary, 1946- II. Al-Khaledy, Noury. III. Title. IV. Series.
R143.A439 2003
610—dc22
2003065334
ISSN 1570-1484
ISBN 90 04 13671 1
© Copyright 2004 by Koninklijke Brill nv, Leiden, The Nether lands
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, translated, stored in
a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic,
mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written
permission from the publisher.
Authorization to photocopy items for internal or personal
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Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Suite 910
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Fees are subject to change.
printed in the netherlands
In Memory of
Martin Levey
and
Michael Dols
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CONTENTS
Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ix
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
TheAuthor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
TheText . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
GalenicMedicine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
ManuscriptsoftheArabicText . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
ThePresentEdition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
TheExperts’ExaminationforAllPhysicians . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
CHAPTERONE: OnthePulse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
CHAPTERTWO: OnUrine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
CHAPTERTHREE:OnFeversandCrises . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
CHAPTERFOUR: FavorableandDangerousSymptoms . . . . 53
CHAPTERFIVE: OnSimpleDrugs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
CHAPTERSIX: OnTreatment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
CHAPTERSEVEN: OnWhatOphthalmologistsShouldBeAsked 89
CHAPTEREIGHT: OnWhataSurgeonShouldBeAsked . . . 97
CHAPTERNINE: WhattheBonesetterShouldBeAsked . . . 105
CHAPTERTEN: OntheFundamentalsofThisArt . . . . . 111
Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
Imtih.a¯nal-alibba¯’li-ka¯ffatal-a.tibba¯’ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
NotestotheArabictext . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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PREFACE
In 1977, while doing research on medical education in the medieval
MiddleEast,IcameacrossamanuscriptwiththeintriguingtitleImtih.a¯n
al-alibba¯’ li-ka¯ffat al-a.tibba¯’ [“The Experts’ Examination for All Physi-
cians”] in a catalogue of Arabic manuscripts in Vienna. I subsequently
acquired a copy of this work on microfilm. After briefly examining its
contents, I happened to mention it to one of my former undergradu-
ate professors of Arabic, Noury Al-Khaledy. Because of his interest in
pharmacology and my interest in pedagogy and because, above all, I
had discovered no other work quite like it surviving from the medieval
Muslim world, he suggested that we edit and translate the manuscript.
I agreed and we soon made a very preliminary reading and translation
of it. Shortly thereafter, we located a second copy of this work in Cairo
andathirdinBursa. Wethenhadtheresourcestoprepareapropercol-
lated edition of the text. My professional peregrinations, however, and
Prof.Al-Khaledy’suniversitydutiesandthenhisretirementandrespon-
sibilities to a private firm prevented us from promptly carrying out this
project. Overtheyears,wemanagedtopublishonlyadescriptionofthe
work in a Turkish scholarly journal. In 1992, Prof. Al-Khaledy’s health
began to fail and on 19 October 1995 he passed away. Meanwhile, I
had assembled all the materials that we had collected and began to re-
viewthosepartsofthetranslationthatIhadrevisedsinceourfirstdraft.
And thanks to modern computer technology, which now allows one to
produce an Arabic text at home, I was able to edit the work and finally
prepare a complete translation. This translation, I hasten to add, has
benefitted in no small way from the expert criticism of Lawrence Con-
rad at the University of Hamburg. It is with deep regret that I was not
abletofinishthistaskbeforeProf.Al-Khaledy’sdeath.
AfewwordsareinorderhereaboutNouryAl-Khaledy,knownsim-
plyasNourytohisfriends,andhisremarkablecareerandcontributions
to the teaching of Arabic in the United States. Noury gave his birth
date as 1 February 1918, although he was not absolutely certain. Born
in Damascus, he was a descendant of a famous Arabian tribe, the Ban¯ı
Kha¯lid of the Syrian Desert. Indeed, although his mother was Circas-
sian, he spent his early childhood as a bedouin. Nevertheless, he at-
tended high school at North Syria School for Boys in Aleppo and went