BOOK REVIEW Some Recent Publications On The History Of Arabic Medicine
Alain TOUWAIDE, Ph.D*
* Fellow of the Linnean Society of London, Fellow of the International Academy for the History of Pharmacy, UK. e-mail: [email protected]
Plinio Prioreschi A History of Medicine. Volume is no objective truth (and therefore no scientific IV: Byzantine and Islamic Medicine, Omaha: Horatius truth), and that science is a social construct and a tool Press, 2001, xliii + 506 p. ISBN: 1-888456-04-3. for the exploitation of non-scientists. To that he opposes a solid presentation of authors and facts, thus Averroës, Middle Commentary on Aristotles De contrasting the process of deterioration of medical anima. A Critical Edition of the Arabic Text with historiography (p. xvii, among others). English Translation, Notes and Introduction by Alfred L. Ivry (Graeco-Arabic Sciences and Philosophy), The presentation is divided in five main parts: his- Provo (Utah): Brigham Young University Press, 2002, torical outline of the Arabic world (p. 171-180); reli- xl + 281 p. ISBN: 0-8425-2473-8. gion and philosophy (p. 181-186); sciences and tech- niques (p. 187-201); medicine (p.202-414); overview Maimonides, On Asthma. A parallel Arabic- (p. 415-467). English text edited, translated and annotated by Gerrit Bos (Volume 1 of the complete medical works The bulky part devoted to medicine starts with a of Maimonides) (Graeco-Arabic Sciences and Philo- short presentation of Pre-Islamic and Early Islamic sophy), Provo (Utah): Brigham Young University Medicine (p. 205-208), followed by an overview of Press, 2002, l + 165 p. ISBN: 0-8425-2475-4. the translation period (p. 208-217). Then, Prioreschi divides his analysis into two parts: the Eastern and After a series of original synthesis on the history of the Western Caliphates (p. 217-309 and 309-351 Arabic Medicine from Ullmanns Islamic Medicine respectively). Here, his approach is essentially biog- (Edinburgh, Edinburgh University Press, 1978) to raphical and chronological. Indeed, he lists ten Conrads The Arab-Islamic Medical Tradition in The authors enumerated in chronological order and, for Western Medical Tradition (Cambridge, Cambridge each, he briefly retraces their biography, mentions University Press, 1995) and Savage-Smiths their work(s), comments on the most important ones, Medicine in Encyclopedia of the History of Arabic and quotes their contents or large textual extracts in Science (London, Routledge, 1996), this new volume English translation (reproduced from previously pub- by Plinio Prioreschi - the 4th of his comprehensive lished works). For the Eastern Caliphate, the authors History of Medicine - aims at offering a panoramic are the following (I reproduce Prioreschis transcrip- view of the history of medicine in the Eastern tion of proper names): Isa ibn Haka, Yuhanna ibn Mediterranean world, particularly Arabic Medicine. Masawyh, Hunayn ibn Ishaq, Al-Tabari, Al-Kindi, Although it also includes Byzantine Medicine, it Al-Razi, Al-Majusi, Ibn Sina, Ibn al-Nafis. A further devotes only p. 1-167 to it, while it analyzes Arabic paragraph deals with Others: Sabur ibn Sahl, Qusta Medicine in three hundred pages (p. 169-467). bin Luqa, Ibn Qurra, Ibn al-Jazzar, Mesue the From a methodological point of view, the author Younger, Al-Biruni, Ali ibn Ridwan, Ibn al-Tilmidh, contests the post-modernist historical school that Abd-al-Latif, Al-Samarqandi, ibn al-Baytar, Mesue contends, according to him (p. xx, note 3), that there the Third and Ibn-al-Quff. For the Western Caliphate,
60 JISHIM 2002, 2 BOOK REVIEW Alain TOUWAIDE SOME RECENT PUBLICATIONS ON THE HISTORY OF ARABIC MEDICINE there are four authors: Al-Zahrawi, Ibn Zuhr, ibn of the whole field, it has to rely on the current state of Rushd and ibn Maymun. Among the others, we have research, which it synthesizes. As such, this history is principally Ibn Habib and ibn Juljul. an introduction to the study of the history of medicine This biographical section is followed by three the- rather than a definitive work, proposing new data and matic parts: (p. 352-367) supernaturalistic medicine fresh approaches for further investigations. At the (which includes the Prophetic Medicine on the one same time, it will have to be taken with precaution: as hand and, on the other, Medicine, Magic and every synthesis that does not rely on a personal Astrology); (p. 367-383) hospitals; (p. 383-414) examination of primary sources, it receives the oddi- physicians, education and ethics. ties of the secondary literature it relies on, reinforcing them at the same time. An example is this affirmation The large overview (p. 415-467) proceeds analyt- according to which Constantine the African made a ically and deals with anatomy, physiology, medicine translation of ibn al-Gazzars Zad el Musafir in 1124 and therapeutics (including psychiatry, ophthalmolo- (see p. 294), while the most recent trace of gy and pharmacology) and surgery. Constantine currently known dates back to 1087. To conclude this presentation, Prioreschi offers The other two works are pretty different: they are two chapters of conclusions: in the first (p. 469-480), critical editions of Arabic texts based on a personal he evaluates the contribution of Arabic Medicine to consultation of primary sources, that is, manuscripts. world science, while in the second (p. 481-487) he They are part of the Graeco-Arabic Sciences and compares Byzantine and Arabic Medicine. In so Philosophy (GrASP) series published under the edi- doing, he considers that Arabic Medicine consider- torial direction of Glen Cooper of Brigham Young ably contributed to the advancement of medical sci- University at Provo (Utah, USA). The series itself is ence (a fact that, according to him, negates postmod- part of a wider program, the Middle Eastern Texts ernist theories [see p. 473]) and that the Arabic World Initiative (METI) directed by Daniel C. Peterson. encouraged the emergence of a form of alternative According to the foreword of the two volumes signed medicine as already did before the Roman and Indian by both Peterson and Cooper, Islamic civilization Worlds (see p. 475). In the comparison between represents nearly fourteen centuries of intense intel- Byzantine and Arabic Medicines, Prioreschi suggests lectual activity, and believers in Islam number rough- that, although both relied on the same sources and ly one billion. The texts that will appear in the GrASP were deeply influenced by their religious context, series are among the treasures of this great culture, they deeply differed: Byzantine Medicine only stud- composed not only of Muslims but of Christians, ied, collected, revised and commented on its ancient Jews, and others who contributed to it in a quest for heritage (p. 481), while Arabic Medicine eagerly col- knowledge that transcended religious and ethnic lected and translated ancient texts, also tending to be boundaries. Together they not only preserved the best more vibrant and innovative (ibidem). He further of Greek thought but enhanced it, added to it, and attributes this difference to the opposed conceptions built upon it a corpus of scientific and philosophical of medicine in Byzantium and the Arabic World: understanding that is properly the inheritance for all while in the former, medicine was considered an ars the peoples of the world. perfecta, in the latter it was seen as an ars imperfec- ta. Now perfection means completion (and thus A further introduction by Dimitris Gutas (Yale impossibility to improve), whereas imperfection University, New Haven CT, USA) in the Maimonides leaves the door open to progress. volume, explains that the purpose of the publica- tions is to present reliable text editions and accurate A detailed index closes the work (p. 489-506). It translations of seminal works from this vast and includes both proper names and analytical concepts. influential tradition [that is, the Arabic tradition], Prioreschis ambitious enterprise results in an which to this day remains very little known and encyclopedia with the strength and limits of every appreciate in the West. .... This definition of the project of this kind: in its attempt to give an overview object and goals of the series is followed by a short
JISHIM 2002, 2 61 Alain TOUWAIDE BOOK REVIEW SOME RECENT PUBLICATIONS ON THE HISTORY OF ARABIC MEDICINE presentation of the assimilation of Greek Science in Averroës, each of which known by five manuscripts, the Arabic World and of the classification of sciences and four for Maimonides, each of which known by and a discussion of its long-term effects. First, it pre- only one manuscript). Maimonides text is also served a cultural patrimony that could have been lost. attested by two Latin translations (they themselves Second, it demonstrated the international character also attested each by one manuscript). The critical of philosophical and scientific knowledge. Third, edition of the Arabic text, supplemented in some pas- the understanding of this nature of knowledge made sages by the Hebrew text in Maimonides work, con- it possible to scientists of different origins (be it reli- stitutes the main part of the two volumes (p. 1-137 for gious or ethnic) to be associated to the study and Averroës and 1-111 for Maimonides). It includes enhancing of this patrimony. Fourth, the inter-rela- variant readings from the manuscripts at the bottom tion between the different disciplines fostered the of the pages. The original text is translated into advances in science and philosophy. And fifth, new English on the left page. Notes of commentary resulting knowledge was transmitted to the West (explanation of obscure passages, references to other thanks to another enterprise of translation just when works by the same author or, for example, references the first universities were being established in the to their author) are given in the footnotes or at the end twelfth century. As Gutas concludes, the sciences of the text (Averroës; p. 139-213; Maimonides: p. and philosophy that were produced in Islamic 123-138). Averroës text contains a particularly use- Civilization form the foundation of Western ful glossary (p. 215-261): the first part (p. 215-217) Civilization. lists the names of the authors quoted in the commen- tary and the second (p. 218-261) the terms and con- Though with some differences, the two works are cepts used in the work. References are given to the built on a similar pattern. The two texts dealt with are Arabic, Hebrew, Greek and Latin texts, with the cor- presented in a large introduction (Averroës: p. xiii- responding words (in Hebrew, Greek and Latin). In xxi; Maimonides: p. xiii-l). While the Averroës intro- Maimonides edition, the text is followed by a com- duction is more concerned with a philosophical pres- parison between the Arabic text and its Hebrew trans- entation of the work dealt with (the Middle lation (p. 113-122). Both works include a bibliogra- Commentary on Aristotles De Anima, called in this phy (Averroës; p. 263-270; Maimonides: p. 139-150) way to be distinguished from the Long Commentary and an index (Averroës: p. 271-281; Maimonides; p. on the same treatise also by Averroës), the 151-165). Maimonides introduction is broader: it gives first a biography of Maimonides (p. xxiv-xxx), then pres- Maimonides volume is the first of a corpus that ents his medical works (p. xxxi-xxxiii) and the trea- will include all the currently extant works by the tise on asthma, including its manuscript sources (p. author. However paradoxical it might seem, indeed, xxxiii-xxxix), and an analysis of its contents (p. Maimonides Arabic works are still largely unedited, xxxix-xlvii). Characteristically, the treatise does not while their Hebrew versions are better known. contain a general analysis of asthma; instead, it is just The most achieved results of the highest standards a cure for a determined patient (who is not identi- for scholarly research, these two works will be indis- fied), since, according to Maimonides, therapy can- pensable tools for further research in the history of not be universal, but has to be determined for each Arabic Philosophy and Medicine. Exclusively based patient, individually. on primary sources (be it in Arabic or in Hebrew) In both works, the critical edition relies on a per- scrutinized with great accuracy, they witness of a full sonal analysis of all the extant manuscript sources, dominion of the matter and provide scholars with shortly presented in Averroës edition (p. xxix) and reliable texts translated with extreme exactness. Non- analyzed with more details in the Maimonides one Arabist historians will take advantage of the transla- (p. xxxiii-xxxix). Both works are attested by Arabic tion, and historians of Arabic Medicine and Science manuscripts (two for Averroës and four for will learn much from the introductions, bibliogra- Maimonides) and Hebrew translations (two for phies and index (in the case of Averroës).
62 JISHIM 2002, 2 BOOK REVIEW Alain TOUWAIDE SOME RECENT PUBLICATIONS ON THE HISTORY OF ARABIC MEDICINE Works of this kind are not only welcome, but also it will be possible to have critical editions of the high- indispensable for a good understanding of the history est standard. Analysis of ancient scientific literature of medicine and sciences, be it Arabic, Byzantine or needs to rely on editions like those only. Further work other. Only with the closest scrutiny of manuscripts of interpretation, synthesis or other will be reliable if by codicologists and paleographers and of the texts - and only if - it refers to works of this kind and of a by philologists with a deep understanding of the lan- level of quality comparable to that presented by the guage of the text and the topic dealt with in the work, two editions under consideration here.
JISHIM 2002, 2 63