Author
this name or description is not elsewhere ascribed to Ibrāhīm al-Najjār
Publication Date
1845-1864 (CE, Gregorian)
Subject
1
Type
Book
Language
Arabic
Digital
Yes
Manuscript
Yes
Pages Count
1
Physical Dimensions
216x161mm
Library
Qatar Digital Library
Library Asset ID
Or 12152
Record ID
vdc_100106890409.0x000001
Library Location
British Library: Oriental Manuscripts
Date
1845-1864 (CE, Gregorian)
Notes
Pharmacological handbook, re-bound out of order and with missing sections. The text is organized into chapters on major ingredients and on effective categories of drugs, and records recipes for medications such as pills, drops, gargles, ointments, oral drafts, powders, enemas, skin washes, etc.
The text bears witness to a mixture of Arabic medico-botanical and Latinate chemical terminology such as potassium carbonate (butassa carbonates, f. 48v), oxide (oxide, various entries, e.g., f. 20r) and iodine (iodine, f. 70r).
The text is attributed on the title page (f. 1r, apparently a later replacement or interpolation in a different hand) to Ibrāhīm Afandī al-Ṭabīb (the physician), 'one of the doctors of the Madrasah Mulūkīyah of Exalted Asitānah (Asitane/Istanbul). Ottoman Beirut (Book Anis al-Jalis in every hadith narrated by Ibrahim Effendi al-Tabib, one of the physicians of the Malukiyah school in the Upper Province and the first physician in العساکرالسلطانية في مدينة بيروت المحروسة), while the introductory preface (f. 40v, same hand as f. 1r and different to the main text) dedicated to the Ottoman Sultan Abdülmecit I (reg. 1839-1861) identifies the author as the doctor Ibrāhīm al-Qamrāwī (al-Qamrāwī, 'al-Qamrāwī' is erased and replaced with 'al-Dayrānī' above the line; both are valid
nisbas
), domiciled in Beirut (الديراني مولدًا والبيروتي وطنًا). Ibrahim ibn Khalīl al-Najjār (b. 1822, d. 1864) was born in Dayr al-Qamar, Lebanon, and was one of the first Lebanese students to receive Western-style medical training. Taken at face value, the text is dated to between 1845 (after Ibrahim al-Najjār became established as chief medic to the Ottoman army in Beirut) and 1861 (the date of Abdulmecit I's death).
However, the fact that ff. 1 and 40 are not original to the main text, and that a work by this name or description is not elsewhere attributed to Ibrāhīm al-Najjār may cast some doubt on this attribution.
The
verse
The back of a sheet of paper or leaf, often abbreviated to 'v'.
of the title page contains the contents list of an apparently unrelated travel narrative featuring several characters with European names (ff. 1v, continued on pp. 39r-39v).
Contents:
Chapter one discussing astringent drugs (Chapter 1 in Al-Kalam al-Qawabz, ff. 2v-29r);
Chapter two on general stimulants (Chapter 2 in al-Adwiyah al-Manbah al-Umumiyah, ff. 29r-38v);
Preface (f. 40v);
Section three on diuretic medicines using the squill onion (Drimia maritima) ( Third Order in the Discourse on the Mild Adwiya in the Ripening of the Squill, f. 42r-50v);
Chapter on sulfur (Chapter in Sulfur, ff. 50v-59r);
Chapter seven on Spanish fly (Chapter Seven in al-Zararih, ff. 59r-62v);
Chapter eight on mercury (Chapter Eight in Zibq, ff. 62v-73v);
Chapter nine on Nux Vomica [strychnine] (Chapter Eight in Juz al-Qay' , ff. 73v-76v);
Chapter ten on drugs known as anti-spasmodics (Chapter Ten in Al-Adwiyah al-Masmah against convulsions means that [!] anti-spasmotic , ff. 77r-84r);
Chapter eleven on anesthetics (Chapter Eleven in [...] Al-Adwiya al-Muskane for the Nervous Complex and Named Adwiya Makhdra, ff. 84r-98r);
Chapter twelve on emetics (Chapter Two Tenth in Al-Adwiyah al-Maqi'a, ff. 98r-104v);
Chapter sixteen on stimulants (Chapter Sixteen Ashrafi al-Adwiyah al-Munbah, ff. 104v-122v);
Chapter fourteen on antipyretics (Chapter Fourteen in the Discourse on Al-Adwiyah and Refrigeration, ff. 122v-124v);
Chapter fifteen on laxatives (Chapter Fifteen in Al-Kalm al-Adwiyah al-Mulina, ff. 125v-128v).
Begins (f. 2v, lines 1-7):
The first chapter
In the words on the quarters
إن القوابض هي جواهر دائية إذ لا مست الأنصجة الحية أحدثت
There is a kind of inkmash in the letter named al-inqbaz and it is a tense verb
And its characteristic truth is the first characteristic and all the essence of this gem
If it is on a wound, the events in the container and the machine prevent exit
الدم الناشيء من الأوعية الشعرية.
Ends (f. 128v, lines 15-18)
In the well-known industries in general
وآذان الحمار الكبير
هذا النبات ملين قليل الاستعملا في يومنا هذا وکانوا يستعملونه
The former is very common in chronic ophthalmic and oral bleeding
Erişim Koşulları
Unrestricted
Bulma Yardımcıları
Hamarneh, Sami,
Catalogue of Arabic Manuscripts on Medicine and Pharmacy at the British Library
(Cairo: Les Editions Universitaires d’Egypte, 1975), Item 333, pp. 245-46
Edinme Kaynağı
Purchased from Mrs A. M. Sefi, 28 May 1957
Köken
From the collection of Yūsuf al-Ṣayfī (يوسف الصيفي): no 26 (f. 2r)
Seçilmiş kaynakça
Author's autobiography:
al-Najjār, Ibrāhīm,
Miṣbāḥ al-sārī wa-nuzhat al-qārī
(Beirut: self-published, 1272/1855-56)
Studies:
Brockelmann, Carl,
History of the Arabic Written Tradition: Volume 2
, trans. by Joep Lameer. Handbook of Oriental studies. Section one, The Near and Middle East; volume 117/2 (Leiden; Boston: Brill, 2016), p. 800
Haddad, Fouad Salim, 'History of Modern Anesthesia in Lebanon', in Wilhelm Erdmann et al. (eds.),
Anaesthesia: Essays on Its History
(Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer, 1985), pp. 234-37
Hasan, A. N. M. A., 'Western Influences in the Arabic Literature of Egypt and Syria between 1820 and 1879', unpublished PhD dissertation, SOAS, 1931, pp. 161-63
