Islamic Philosophy, Theology, and Science, Texts and Studies, vol. 16, Sabur Ibn Sahl, Dispensatorium Parvum (al-Aqrabadhin al-Saghir).

Varisco, Daniel Martin

The scientific study of Arabic pharmacy, as Kahl observes in his introduction to this important text, is in a somewhat "awkward position" due to such problems as "lost or corrupt sources, inaccurate transmissions, unreliable preliminary studies, premature surveys and, worst of all, uncritical editions" (p. 1). The present annotated edition of a middle ninth-century C.E. pharmaceutical text, preserved in the Staatsbibliothek Preussischer Kulturbesitz in Berlin, should help rectify the serious gap in knowledge of the field. Karl argues convincingly that the Berlin manuscript, which was probably copied in the ninth century, is the Dispensatorium parvum or al-Aqrabadhin al-saghir of the Christian physician Sabur ibn Sahl (d. 255/869). This author held a position at the hospital of Gondeshapur of Khuzistan before being appointed court physician to the Abbasid caliph al-Mutawakkil. Sabur ibn Sahl compiled his pharmaceutical work in three separate editions, a short one of seventeen chapters, as represented by the Berlin manuscript, a large one of twenty-two chapters, revised by Yuhanna ibn Sarabiyun in the second half of the ninth century and further revised and abridged in the eleventh century. Karl edits the short text through a comparison of all the extant versions and excerpts recorded in the Hawi of Razi, Malaki of Majusi, and Qanun of Ibn Sina.

In his introductory remarks Kahl provides a description of the history of the text, including its orthography, morphology, and syntax, and a short account of the author. The bulk of the book is an edition of the Berlin text (pp. 39-211), followed by a short chapter of useful philological observations. The glossary at the end of the text is especially valuable for discussions of weights and measures. The indices of major terms are divided among Arabic, Greek, Syriac, Persian (including derivations from Sanskrit and Chinese) and miscellaneous. For anyone interested in the early history of Arabic pharmacy and its relation to other traditions, this is a work that should be consulted.

The surviving text edited here comprises 409 recipes, which are divided into chapters according to the following categories: "theriacs" and electuaries, "divine remedies" and purgative electuaries, decoctions, pills, confections, pastilles, stomachics, cataplasms, oils, beverages, enemas, collyria, and linaments. The text itself is purely descriptive, with no discussion on pharmaceutical methods or any observations based on experience. Karl, however, does a thorough job in identifying the elements used in the compounds. None of the individual recipes are translated by Kahl, nor is there any attempt to determine the possible therapeutic value with a comparison to more recent medical research. The primary value of the text is as a well-documented edition of one of the earliest pharmaceutical works in Arabic. Hopefully, this is the kind of resource that will lead others, or even the editor himself, to go beyond the important step of establishing the text to analysis of the scientific value of the contents. There is now a fair amount of data available from medieval herbals and simples, despite the fact noted by Kahl that many of the published texts are not critical editions. The question then becomes one of deciphering how and why these pharmaceuticals were used in the way documented.

DANIEL MARTIN VARISCO HOFSTRA UNIVERSITY