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Figure 4. — Circular cauterization in stomach 

 ailments. Top, from original Arabic manu- 

 script (Tiib. MS. 91), courtesy Univer- 

 sitatsbibliothek Tubingen. Bottom, from the 

 1 53 1 Latin edition of Pietro d'Argellata, 

 Chirurgia Argellata cum Albucasis, hereinafter 

 cited as Argellata 1531, courtesy National 

 Library of Medicine. 



probably the oldest one known today that contains 

 such instructive surgical illustrations and text.^ 



This surgical treatise has been investigated, trans- 

 lated, and commented upon by eminent historians 



* Fielding H. Garrison {An Introduction of the History of Medicine, 

 ed. 4, rev., Philadelphia, 1929, p. 132), states, in reference to 

 "Sudhoff and others," that many drawings earlier than those 

 of al-Zahrawi have been discovered in medieval manuscripts. 

 However, Garrison overlooked the fact that al-Zahrawi's 

 surgical illustrations were mainly depicted for instructional 

 purposes — a unique approach. It should be noted also that 

 al-Zahrawi died almost a century earlier than Garrison thought. 

 See also Martin S. Spink, "Arabian Gynaecological, Obstetrical 

 and Genito-Urinary Practice Illustrated from Albucasis," Pro- 

 ceedings of the Royal Society oj Medicine, 1937, vol. 30, p. 654. 



of medicine and surgery to whose works I shall refer 

 in this article. However, the pharmaceutic and 

 therapeutic details of the treatise have been some- 

 what overlooked. 



As to the various illustrations of the surgical instru- 

 ments (over 200 figures in all), an almost complete 

 representation of samples has beeii introduced by 

 Channing,'' Leclerc,^ Gurlt,^ Sudhofl",'" and others. 

 Nevertheless, a good number of the reproduced 

 drawings are greatly modified, most likely having been 

 influenced by earlier illustrations in several Latin and 

 vernacular versions of the treatise." This becomes 

 clearer on comparison with seven Arabic manu- 

 scripts that have not been fully examined by Western 

 scholars before and that — in several instances — show 

 more authentic drawings of al-Zahrawi's surgical 

 instruments than any heretofore published.'^ 



" Johannis Channing, Albucasis de Chirurgia. Arabice et Latine, 

 O.xford, 1778, 2 vols, (hereinafter referred to as Channing, 

 Albucasis). The text has many errors in spelling and grammar, 

 but Leclerc went too far in criticizing this edition, which has 

 many merits. Moreover, the surgical illustrations (reproduced 

 from the Huntington and Marsh manuscripts of the Bodleian 

 Library) in Channing's edition are of special interest. 



* Lucien Leclerc, La Chirurgie d'Abulcasis, Paris, 1861 (herein- 

 after referred to as Leclerc, Abulcasis). This excellent French 

 version was first published in a series of articles in Gazette 

 Medicate de I'Algerie, and seems influenced by Channing's 

 edition more than Leclerc admits. Leclerc consulted several 

 Arabic copies of the treatise as well as Latin and vernacular 

 translations, but only a few of these Arabic manuscripts are 

 considered complete. The Arabic manuscripts studied for the 

 present article are not the same as those used by Leclerc. See 

 also Leclerc's monumental work, Histoire de la Medecine Arabe, 

 Paris, 1876, vol. 1, pp. 453-457. 



' Ernst Gurlt, Geschichte der Chirurgie und ihrer AusUbung 

 Volkschirurgie-Altertkum-Mittelaller-Renaissance, Berlin, 1898, vol. 

 1, pp. 620-649, with more than 100 figures. In the text and 

 illustrations, Gurlt relied upon Leclerc's translation and modi- 

 fied drawings of the surgical instruments; nevertheless, he 

 presents a brief, systematic study — probably the best so far — of 

 the entire treatise. 



'" Karl Sudhoff, Beitrage zur Geschichte der Chirurgie im Mit- 

 telalter, Leipzig, 1918 (hereinafter referred to as Sudhoff", 

 Chirurgie) , vol. 2, pp. 1 6-84, with a few plates. Although Sudhoff 

 consulted the fragmentary Arabic manuscript indexed as "Cod. 

 Arab. 1989" in Gotha, Germany, he relied mainly upon Latin 

 versions of the treatise and the illustrations contained in them. 



" See Leclerc, Abulcasis, in introduction. 



1- The seven Arabic manuscripts are indexed as "Berlin MS. 

 Or. fol. 91," temporarily at Universitatsbibliothek Tubingen, 

 in Germany; "Escorial MS. Arabe No. 876," at Biblioteca del 

 Monasterio de San Lorenzo el Real de El Escorial, in Spain; 

 "Wien MS. Cod. N.F. 476 A.," at Oesterreichische National- 

 bibliothek, in Vienna; and "All Emiri Arabi No. 2854," "Besir 

 Aga Nos. 502 and 503," and "Veliyyudin No. 2491," all at 



PAPER 



DRAWINGS .\ND PHARMACY IN AL-ZAHRAWfs SURGICAL TREATISE 



85 



