LITERATURE OF THE ARABS. 99 



elder Messue employed, as emetics,, powder of fine 

 bark, and decoctions of hyssop ; and as a styptic in 

 violent bowel-complaints he had recourse to the ren- 

 net of different animals, particularly the hare. In 

 curing similar disorders, Serapion advised boiled 

 milk in which redhot iron had been dipt. 



In anatomy and surgery, the Arabs never attain- 

 ed to any remarkable proficiency. The polluted 

 touch of the dead alarmed the most determined 

 naturalist ; and the orthodox Mussulman felt him- 

 self debarred from this impious knowledge by the 

 prejudices of his creed. When Toderini asked a 

 mufti if it was allowable to practise human dissec- 

 tion, he was told that the very question itself was 

 an infringement of their divine law. To mutilate 

 a corpse was prohibited by the religious belief that 

 the soul does not depart from the body at the mo- 

 ment of death, but remains, after deserting the other 

 members, for a considerable time in the breast. 

 Besides, it was deemed necessary to appear entire at 

 the stern tribunal of Munkir and Nakir, to undergo 

 the sepulchral examination. Hence the anatomical 

 studies of the Arabs were restricted to the lower 

 animals, and skeletons in the cemeteries. In their 

 writings on the subject, they did little more than 

 translate and paraphrase the works of the Greeks. 



The surgery of Ali Abbas has some distinctive fea~ 

 tures ; for though he modestly professed only to be a 

 copyist, he made a great many observations peculiar 

 to himself. His son, who folio wed the same profession, 

 was the author of a book on the diseases of the eye. 

 In operating for cataract, Avicenna recommended 

 depression ; and speaks of extraction, which he had 

 several times seen practised, as a very dangerous 



