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Figure lo. — Dental scrapers. Top, from orig- 

 inal Arabic manuscript (Vel. 2491), courtesy 

 Siileymaniye Umumi Kiituphanesi Miidur- 

 liigii. Left, from Argellata 1531, courtesy 

 National Library of Medicine. Right, from 

 Channing, Albiicasis. 



He also proposes that instruments made of iron are 

 more practical in many ways than those made of gold, 

 because often, when gold instruments are put in fire, 

 they either are not heated enough or are overheated, 

 causing the gold to melt. 



Al-Zahrawi gently refutes the superstition that 

 cautery is "good only in springtime," and states that 

 under the right conditions of the body's humors it 

 could be used in all seasons." ^' Although he recom- 

 mends cautery rather highly, he never minimizes the 



" Al-Zahrawl criticizes those who interpret the saying 

 "cautery is the end of treatment" to mean that cauterization 

 is the best and only conclusive treatment at the physician's 





\:.,a 



2SS ^ 



) 



ss 





2; 



Figure 1 1 . — Dental forceps. Top, from original 

 Arabic manuscript (Tiib. MS. 91), courtesy 

 Universitatsbibliothek Tubingen. Bottom, 

 from Leclerc, Abulcasis. 



importance of treatment by drugs. Actually, he 

 encourages the use of drugs, before, with, and after 

 cauterization.'^ For example, in chapter 16 on "the 

 cauterization of eyelid when its hair grows reversedly 

 into the eye," he recommends treatment by cautery 

 and by medicine. In cautery, the area where fire is 

 to be placed is marked with ink in the shape of a 

 myrtle leaf. In drug treatment, the caustic medicine 

 is applied to the eyelid over a paper in the shape of a 

 myrtle leaf (fig. 2). 



In chapter 17 the author refers to an ancient method 

 regarding cautery of the fistula in the inner corner of 

 the eye. After incising the fistula, one "dirham" 

 (derived from the Greek "drachma," which is equal 

 to about 2.97 grams) '^ of melted lead is poured into it 

 through a fine funnel used for cauterization (fig. 3). 



disposal. He points out that other treatments, such as drugs, 

 should be resorted to first, and used until they prove of no 

 avail; and he states that only after cautery proves to be the 

 cure should it be considered the completion of medical treat- 

 ment— "al-kay akhir al-tibb." See Vel. 2491, fol. 106; and 

 Bes. 502, fol. 524r~525v. 



'* For healing, soothing, or emollient purposes, al-Zahwari 

 suggested medications, such as egg white, salt water (normal 

 saline), sap of psyllium, several ointments, "duhn" of rose, and 

 other "adhan" (plural of "duhn," the fatty or oily essences 

 extracted from various substances through pharmaceutical 

 processes). 



" For a more accurate estimate of the equivalence of "dirham" 

 according to the area in which the measurement was taken, the 

 reader may consult Walter Hmz, Islamische Masse iind Gewichte 

 umgerechnet ins metrische System, Leiden, 1955, pt. 1, pp. 2—8; 

 and George C. Miles, Early Arabic Glass Weights and Stamps, 

 New York, 1948, p. 6. 



88 



BULLETIN 228: CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE MUSEUM OF HISTORY AND TECHNOLOGY 



