Ever the twain shall meet : the interaction of medical science, East and West an exhibition at the Wellcome Institute for the History of Medicine / Nigel Allan.

  • Wellcome Institute for the History of Medicine.
Date:
1993
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: Ever the twain shall meet : the interaction of medical science, East and West an exhibition at the Wellcome Institute for the History of Medicine / Nigel Allan. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    Taqwim al-abddn ft tadbir al-insdn, 'Tables of the Bodies with regard to the Constitutions', by Abu Ali Yahya b. Isa b. Ali ibn Jazla al-Baghdadi (d. AD 1100). This fine manuscript was copied in AD 1585 in naskh. The author, of Christian parentage, embraced Islam under the influence of his teacher in AD 1074. He was secretary to the Hanafi Qadi of Baghdad and studied med- icine with Sa'id b. Hibat Allah, court physician to al-Mnqtadi. The manu- script displayed is written in tabular form with 44 tables containing the descriptions and outlining the treatment of 352 diseases. Ibn Jazla drew much of this information from earlier authorities, including Hippocrates, Dioscorides, Rufus of Ephesus, Oribasius and Rhazes, which he admits in his less well known work Minhdj al-bdyan fi md yasta' miluhu al-insdn, 'The Pathway of Explanation as to that which man uses'. The opening displayed lists various diseases and their categories arranged in tables. Haddad Ms. 475 ff. 2V, 3r The following items have kindly been lent by the Science Museum. Two Persian bronze mortars, fifteenth-eighteenth century. A23205, A97571 Five Islamic pharmacy jars. The decorations on the ceramic jars variously depict flowers, foliage, fish, birds and a house. Al 12947, Al 12948, Al 12949, Al 12958 Islamic cupping glass. The inside of the glass was heated with rags, which created a partial vacuum. On then being applied to the skin, it would draw blood to the surface. A643431 Roman (?) glass flask. Possibly used as an infant feeder. A85614 14