Encyclopaedia of the History of Science, Technology, and Medicine in Non-Western Cultures Encyclopaedia of the History of Science, Technology, and Medicine in Non-Western Cultures Advisory Board HO PENG YOKE, Needham Research Institute, Cambridge University, U.K. DAVID TURNBULL, Deakin University, Geelong, Australia JAN P. HOGEND UK, Mathematics Institute, University of Utrecht, The Netherlands GLORIA T. EMEAGWALI, Central Connecticut State University, New Britain, CT, U.SA. SEYYED HOSSEIN NASR, George Washington University, Washington, D.C., U.S.A. SUSANTHA GOONATILAKE, United Nations, New York, NY, U.S.A. Encyclopaedia of the History of Science, Technology, and Medicine • Ill Non-Western Cultures Editor HELAINE SELIN Science Librarian, Hampshire College, Amherst, Massachusetts, U.S.A. Springer-Science+Business Media, B. V. A C.I.P. Catalogue record for this book is available from the Library of Congress ISBN 978-94-017-1418-1 ISBN 978-94-017-1416-7 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-94-017-1416-7 Printed on acid-free paper 02-0698-500 ts AII rights reserved © 1997 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht Originally published by Kluwer Academic Publishers in 1997 Softcover reprint ofthe hardcover 1st edition 1997 No part of the material protected by this copyright notice may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission from the copyright owner. A remarkable world-map centred on Mecca with a highly sophisticated mathematical grid for finding the direction and distance to Mecca from any location in the Islamic Commonwealth. The map is engraved on brass and was made in Iran ca. 1700. However, the geographical data on the map was compiled some 250 years previously, and the mathematics underlying the carto­ graphical grid were known to Muslim scientists such as Habash in the 9th century and al-Biruni in the 11th century. (See: "Maps and Mapmaking: Islamic World Maps Centered on Mecca". Pri­ vate collection, courtesy of the owner and D.A. King, contributor. Photo by Christies of London.) In Memoriam Madilyn J. Engvall 1936-1994 The process Is old light truth passing through new glass -Tim Davis TABLE OF CONTENTS Preface ..................................................... x1 Personal Note from the Editor ................................. xm Acknowledgements . x1v Introduction ................................................. xv List of Entries A-Z with page numbers . xxi Text of the Entries A-Z . 1 List of Authors ............................................ 1063 Index .................................................... 1079 IX PREFACE The Encyclopaedia fills a gap in both the history of science and in cultural stud­ ies. Reference works on other cultures tend either to omit science completely or pay little attention to it, and those on the history of science almost always start with the Greeks, with perhaps a mention of the Islamic world as a trans­ lator of Greek scientific works. The purpose of the Encyclopaedia is to bring together knowledge of many disparate fields in one place and to legitimize the study of other cultures' science. Our aim is not to claim the superiority of other cultures, but to engage in a mutual exchange of ideas. The Western aca­ demic divisions of science, technology, and medicine have been united in the Encyclopaedia because in ancient cultures these disciplines were connected. This work contributes to redressing the balance in the number of reference works devoted to the study of Western science, and encourages awareness of cultural diversity. The Encyclopaedia is the first compilation of this sort, and it is testimony both to the earlier Eurocentric view of academia as well as to the widened vision of today. There is nothing that crosses disciplinary and geographic boundaries, dealing with both scientific and philosophical issues, to the extent that this work does. xi PERSONAL NOTE FROM THE EDITOR Many years ago I taught African history at a secondary school in Central Africa. A few years before, some of the teachers in the country had de­ signed a syllabus that included pre-European history, since the curriculum, left over from colonial days, did not include any mention of Africa before the Portuguese. After a year of teaching from this revised version, I asked my students what they thought was the most significant moment in African history, and virtually all of them said it was the arrival of David Livingstone. It may well be that that was the most important moment for Africa, but it shocked me at the time that no one considered any African achievements worth mentioning. Over the years I have come to see, with the help of scholars like Michael Adas, that the dominance of the West means not only that Westerners disparage the rest of the world but also that the rest of the world sees itself as inferior to the West. This book is meant to take one step towards rectifying that, by describing the scientific achievements of those who have been overlooked or undervalued by scholars in both the West and the East. The book is more than just a compilation of 600 disparate articles; it is a glimpse into how people describe and perceive and order the world. I hope the reader will do some exploring. In addition to reading about Maya astronomy, one can read about Mesoamerican mathematics and medicine, as well as a general article on Magic and Science, because all the fields are interrelated and entwined. It might be useful to read about astronomy in Africa and in Australia, to see how similar and different these cultures are. One can travel across disciplines, following the achievements of one culture, and across cultures, comparing the same discipline. And then it would be useful to read an essay on Transmission of Knowledge, or Rationality and Method, to put the articles and their contents in a broader philosophical and social context. My hope, and that of the advisors and contributors to the project, is that the Encyclopaedia will expand the horizons of scholars, teachers, and students by illustrating how extensive the accomplishments of non-Western scientists are. May our future students never believe that science is limited to a fraction of the world. A note about the authors' names, especially Asian ones: I made many embarrassing errors confusing peoples' surnames and given names, but I was reluctant to change authors' names to conform to the Western style, as it went against the spirit of the Encyclopaedia. Therefore, I have left the names as the authors wrote them. XIll ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS My greatest thanks go to the scholars who participated in the project. They very generously gave me their work, their advice, their suggestions, and their time. Some members ofthe advisory board were more than just advisors; they helped to shape the work and give it clarity. Among the contributors and advisors, I must especially thank: Ho Peng Yoke, David Turnbull, Jan Hogendijk, H T. Huang, David King, Gloria Emeagwali, Ruben Mendoza, Cai Jingfeng, K.V. Sarma, Paul Kunitzsch, Boris Rosenfeld, Tzvi Langermann, Ruth Hendricks Willard, and Gregg de Young. I must of course thank my editor, Annie Kuipers, and her wonderful assistant Evelien Bakker, for taking on such a big project with enthusiasm and affection. I have never encountered two people who work so carefully and so hard. Annie believed in the project, and in me, from the very beginning of our association, and it is certainly true that credit for the quality of the work goes largely to her. I would also like to thank Kennie Lyman, my first editor, who offered support, ideas and advice, and the feeling that we were doing something very important together. At Hampshire College, I wish to thank my friends and colleagues Bonnie Vigeland, Serena Smith and Ann McNeil. They listened to my endless stories and complaints, and laughed and commiserated with me through all the ups and downs of this very complex undertaking. Tom Hart ably assisted with computer graphics, and Ken Hoffman helped with some of the mathematics. Amanda Seigel, a first year undergraduate student, was terrific both with the routine tasks and with fact and spelling checks. She became quite adept with Arabic and Sanskrit and did all the printing and reprinting with endless good cheer. Joseph Needham, editor of Science and Civilisation in China, died in Cam­ bridge in March 1995, just as I was finishing compiling the encyclopedia. All of us in the field of non-Western science owe him an enormous debt for bringing the intellectual worlds of the East and West together. In a sense all of our work follows from his. Finally, I wish to thank my family for putting up with me. A project of this magnitude takes over your consciousness and your time. I'm sure I've been a horrible bore for six years but my lovely family has been very kind about it. I have kept Tim's poem ("I swallowed two pills that claim to heal unspecificity") on the wall in front of the computer, and Lisa's delicate flower drawings on the desk for inspiration. My deepest gratitude goes to my husband, Bob Rakoff; I would never have had the confidence to undertake this or the fortitude to complete it without him. H. SELIN XIV INTRODUCTION In order to study the history of the science of non-Western cultures we must define both non-Western and science. The term non-Western is not a geo­ graphical designation; it is a cultural one. We use it to describe people outside of the Euro-American sphere, including the native cultures of the Americas. The fact that the majority of the world's population is defined by not being something (in this case non-Western) is testimony to the power of European and American colonialism and to the cultural domination of the Western world today.