Essay I

Abstract

FATEME KESHAVARZ: A descriptive and analytical catalogue ofPersian manuscripts in the Library ofthe Wellcome Institutefor the History ofMedicine, London, Wellcome Institute for the History of Medicine, 1986, 4to, pp. 705, illus., £35.00, $55.00. The investigation of Persian medicine in the Islamic period is still in its beginnings. Much of the source material spread in many libraries has still to be catalogued and evaluated before a substantial survey reaching the standard of Manfred Ullmann's Die Medizin im Islam-which, despite its comprehensive title, deals with Arabic medicine exclusively-can be hoped for. At the present moment this catalogue seems to be only the second of its kind, after Richter-Bernburg's 1978 catalogue of the Persian medical manuscripts at the University of California, Los Angeles, of which Dr Keshavarz made ample use. The general idea one has been able to form so far is that Persian medicine was hardly more than an epigonal continuation ofArabic medicine. The latter was, according to Ullmann, mainly a renaissance ofGreek medicine with only a few sporadic contributions ofits own, its main merit lying in the systematization ofthe inherited knowledge. This impression as to the general nature of Persian medicine is probably correct, but it needs to be verified and, if necessary, modified by detailed source studies. The cataloguing of manuscripts is one preliminary, but important step on the way to this goal. It is, therefore, to be welcomed that Dr Keshavarz has undertaken the difficult task of writing a catalogue of the large collection of Persian manuscripts in the Library of the Wellcome Institute, the bulk of which is, in fact, medical. In her interesting introduction, the author presents a general survey of the collection, giving prominence to a number of particularly valuable texts and the illustrated manuscripts. Even though it becomes evident from these pages that her main interests are literature and Sufism, the history ofsciences is not neglected. By a skilful choice ofnames and subjects, a general idea ofthe dimensions and the value of this precious collection is outlined for the reader. A short, but enlightening excursus is included on one of the non-medical manuscripts, the Tuhfat al'Iraqayn by Khaqani. This text, a versified description ofthe author's pilgrimage to Mecca, is shown to be a remarkable piece ofpoesia docta, containing about 120 references to medical matters. On the other hand, an important aspect of medicine in Islam, the so-called "prophetic medicine", is not discussed; and the short mention of"mystical, or quasi-magical activities including numerology, letter exercises, ('ilm-i huruif or 'ilm-i jafr), techniques of prognostication (e.g. 'ilm-i raml), and the construction of talismans and amulets", ranging them with modern "therapy by suggestion or para-psychology" (p. 27) is no more than a hint of how and by what competence this complicated problem could, and should, be broached. In the catalogue, the author describes more than 600 manuscripts covering a vast variety of fields-from medicine, mathematics, and magic to Sufism, rhetoric, and music-and an epoch of nine centuries. The classification of this material was a major task, and this has been handled very diligently by the author. Thus her subject classification for medicine is very detailed: under such larger subdivisions as "diagnosis", "therapy", and "anatomy" are subheadings such as those under "therapy": local and general diseases, general diseases, fevers, sexual disorders, venereal diseases, sexual hygiene, gynaecology and paediatrics, local diseases. Every manuscript is described according to a standard pattern including the title; author's name; contents; features of the manuscript or, in some cases, several manuscripts of one text, sometimes numbering up to ten or more; then the incipit and excipit, followed by some indications as to if, and where, other manuscripts of this text exist. The descriptions of the external features of each manuscript include all the peculiarities usually mentioned in a catalogue of this standard such as size, kind of paper, dating, damage, flyleaves, etc. The titles are given in Arabic script and Roman transliterations; unfortunately they are not translated. The authors are identified with the help ofreference works (Browne, Richter-Bernburg, Rieu, Storey,