Islamic science : crossroad of cultures. An exhibition at the Wellcome Institute for the History of Medicine ... 19 June to 12 November 1985 / [compiled by Nigel Allan].

  • Wellcome Institute for the History of Medicine.
Date:
1985
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: Islamic science : crossroad of cultures. An exhibition at the Wellcome Institute for the History of Medicine ... 19 June to 12 November 1985 / [compiled by Nigel Allan]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    Undated (19th century) Arabic manuscript of an amulet inscribed with ink on wood and containing verses from the Qur^an. It was presented to Sir Henry Wellcome (1853-1936) in 1913 while supervising a programme of excavation at Jebel Moya, an archaeological site midway between the Blue and White Nile. This programme of excavation was set up by Sir Henry in response to Lord Kitchener's request for help in providing for the welfare of the Sudanese. The finds from Jebel Moya, dating from 1000-400 B.C., have made a significant contribution to the history of the Middle East and North Africa. Digging Lemnian earth (Terra Lemnia). Terra lemnia called Terra sigillata in older European pharmacopoeias, is the red coloured clay (Bolus rubra) found on the Greek island of Lemnos in the northern Aegean Sea; the name also designates similar substitutes of various origins. The Terra sigillata (sigillum = seal) was impressed with a seal containing a pious text for use as an amulet and was recommended in ancient times as an antidote against poisoning. Both in the Orient and Europe during the Middle Ages the use of Terra sigillata in one form or another was highly regarded in medical practice. Print of an illustration from a 13th century Materia Medica of Dioscorides in Arabic translation at the Freer Gallery of Art, Washington. Five red Terrae sigillatae each stamped with the Maltese cross and surmounted with a crown within a circular depression; c. 14th to 19th century. Lent by the Wellcome Museum of the History of Medicine at the Science Museum, London. A656733. CASE 13 ISLAMIC SCIENCE IN THE MEDIEVAL WEST. Ther was also a doctor of phisik, In al this world ne was ther non him lyk To speke of phisik and of surgerye; For he was grounded in astronomye. Wei knew he the olde Esculapsius, and Deiscorides, and eeke Rufus; Old Ypocras, Haly and Galien; Serapyon, Razis, and Avycen Averrois, Damescen, and Constantyn; Bernard, and Gatisden and Gilbertyn. General Prologue 1,411-414, 429-434. All the medical writers mentioned by Chaucer [c. 1340-1400] in his description of the physician in the General Prologue were standard authorities used by European medical students and were often to be found in both university libraries and curricula and in the private collections of physicians. It will be noted from the above quotation that a number of Islamic physicians were well established as medical authorities in the west by (Chaucer's time. The school of Salerno, distinguished for medicine in the 11th and 12th centuries, is said to have been founded by four westerners, a Greek, a Latin, a Jew and a Saracen, which may symbolize the synthesis of -30-