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Figure 19. — Cupping. Top, from original 

 Arabic manuscript (Tiib. MS. 91), courtesy 

 Universitatsbibliothek Tubingen. Bottom, 

 from Argellata 1531, courtesy National 

 Library of Medicine. 



professions. It elaborates upon the application of 

 various forms of bandages and plasters in a variety 

 of operations. Al-Zahrawi's detailed description re- 

 lating to fractures of bones is a fine anatomical 

 document of historical interest. He illustrates and 

 describes special methods for tying injured or broken 

 bones, and he suggests that bandages made of soft 

 linen be less and less tight as distance increases from 

 the injured place (chapter 1). For the protection of 

 areas adjacent to the injured part against contact 

 with edges of splints he advocates padding with soft 

 gauze and carded wool. In some cases, to guard 

 against swelling, he preferred a delay of one or more 





u_^ 



<j;*ij' ' — J—! Lr*! ixxX^ *. 



Figure 20. — Splint "in the sliape of a spoon 

 without a bowl." Top, from original Arabic 

 manuscript (Tiib. MS. 91), courtesy Uni- 

 versitatsbibliotliek Tiibingen. Bottom, from 

 Channing, Albucasis. 



days in applying bandages over splints. Al-Zahrawi 

 also devised and depicted many kinds and shapes of 

 splints for use in simple and compound fractures of 

 the head, shoulders, arms, fingers, etc. (see fig. 20). 

 For example, in discussing the reduction of the 

 humerus, he recommends a splint consisting of a 

 smooth, thin stick bent in the shape of a bow 

 with two strings, each attached to one end of 

 the stick (fig. 21). The injured bone is then placed 

 in the middle of the bent splint for reduction while 

 the patient is seated on a chair. Tying is applied 

 only when there is no "hot" swelling (chapter 11). 

 One of the remarkable observations made in this sec- 

 tion is the description of the paralysis caused by frac- 

 ture of the spine. 



Of interest to historians of medical therapy and phar- 

 macy are the recipes for poultices that al-Zahrawi 

 recommends for use over fractured bones. For ex- 

 ample, he gives the following recipe for one such 

 poultice: "Take the so-called 'mill's dust' [ghubar 

 al-raha], which is the part of the wheat flour that 

 clings to the walls of the mill during grinding [lubab 

 al-daqiq], and, without sifting away the bran, knead 



PAPER 22: DRAWINGS AND PHARMACY IN AL-ZAHRAWI S SURGICAL TREATISE 



93 



