علم الأطعمة والمزوراتMedicine Anatomy Surgery and Pharmacy

The science of foods and culinary preparations

Aboo al-Khayr mentioned it among the branches of medicine and said: It is a science that investigates how delicious and beneficial foods are composed according to the temperaments. I have seen a work devoted to it. End of quotation.

It is evident that this is the craft of cooking; among its discussions is the preparation of dishes in cooking.

The science of the weights and measures used in medicine, such as the dirham, uqiyya, ratl, and other measures

Long and concise books have been composed on it, known to those who practice it. This is what appears in the Key to Happiness, where it is made a branch of medicine.

He said in The Unveiling: “Would that I knew what these long books are!” Yes, it is a chapter among the chapters of the extensive medical books. If such matters were sciences branching from medicine, then every chapter—and more—would have to count as a branch. End of quotation.

Ibn Khaldoon said in his history, entitled The Book of Lessons: The dinar and dirham differed in their coinage, amount, and standards across regions, cities, and professions. The Law addressed both of them and attached many rulings to them in almsgiving, marriage contracts, prescribed penalties, and other matters. For that reason, they must, in his view, possess a definite reality and measure by which the rulings apply, as distinct from non-legal measures.

Know, then, that consensus has prevailed since the beginning of Islam and the age of the Companions and Successors that the legal dirham is one for which ten dirhams weigh seven mithqaals of gold, and that its uqiyya is forty dirhams. On this basis it is seven-tenths of a dinar. The mithqaal of gold weighs seventy-two average barley grains; the dirham, being seven-tenths of it, therefore weighs fifty and two-fifths grains. All these measures are established by consensus. The pre-Islamic dirham circulated among them in several forms, the finest being the Tabaree, of eight daaniqs, and the baghlee, of four daaniqs. They placed the legal dirham between them at six daaniqs, and therefore required almsgiving on one hundred baghlee dirhams and one hundred Tabaree dirhams at five dirhams as the mean.

People differed over whether this was established by 'Abd al-Malik or constituted a later consensus. al-Khattaabee mentioned the matter in Ma'aalim al-sunan, as did al-Maawardee in al-Ahkaam al-sultaaniyya. Later critical scholars rejected that account, since it would entail that the legal dinar and dirham were unknown in the age of the Companions and afterward, even though legal rights depended on them in almsgiving, marriage, prescribed penalties, and other matters.

The truth is that their measure was known in that period because rulings concerning those rights were being applied. Their amount was not yet embodied in an external object; rather, it was known among them as a legal standard of weight and measure. When Islam grew powerful, the state expanded, and circumstances called for embodying the legal measure and weight, 'Abd al-Malik fixed their amount and made them actual coins, as required by the Law. He struck them with his name and date and with the mark of the two testimonies of faith, completely withdrew the pre-Islamic coins, and replaced them with coins bearing the new stamp. This is the correct position, from which there is no departure.

After that, the mint authorities of the various states chose to depart from the legal measure of the dinar and dirham. Their measures differed in every country and region, and people returned to conceiving their legal measures mentally, as in the earliest period. Each region then extracted its legal dues from its own coinage by knowing the ratio between it and the legal measures.

As for the dinar's weight of seventy-two average barley grains, this is what the critical scholars transmitted and on which consensus rests, except for Ibn Hazm, who disagreed and claimed that it weighed eighty-four grains. al-Qaadhee 'Abd al-Haqq transmitted this from him; the critical scholars refuted it, calling it an illusion and an error. That is the correct view—“God establishes the truth by His word.” You should likewise know that the legal uqiyya is not the measure commonly used among people, because the common measure differs from region to region, whereas the legal measure is mentally uniform and admits no variation. “God created all things and determined them with precise determination.” End of his statement.

The science of sexual potency

It is a science that investigates treatments related to sexual potency: foods that strengthen it, medicines that increase it, enhance pleasure in intercourse, enlarge or constrict the sexual organs, and other related acts and practices. It also discusses forms and etiquettes of intercourse that contribute to pleasure and the activity of the imagination. To expand the discipline, however, authors sometimes mention forms that are difficult or even impossible to perform, appending stimulating tales whose hearing arouses desire and activates sexual power. They composed these accounts for those whose potency had weakened or disappeared, since such accounts might restore it after all hope had been lost.

It is related that a king lost his potency. He married a beautiful slave-girl to one of his mamlooks and arranged a place where the king could see them while they could not see him. His power returned through watching their actions, until something resembling fresh bread emerged from his urethra; afterward he possessed an excess of potency. This is summarized from the Key, and a similar account occurs in The City of the Sciences.

It would not be far-fetched to say that watching animals mate has a similar effect, although watching human activity has a stronger influence in restoring potency.

This science is a branch of medicine—indeed, a major chapter of it—but authors treated it separately because they considered its subject important.

Among the books composed on it is The Alfiyya and the Shalfiyya.

Aboo al-Khayr said: It is related that a king completely lost his sexual potency and that physicians were unable to treat him with medicines. They invented tales narrated by a woman called al-Alfiyya, because she had intercourse with one thousand men. She related different forms and positions used by each of them, and the king's potency returned through listening to them. End of quotation. A similar account appears in The City of the Sciences.

Another is The Clarification of the Secrets of Marriage—that is, of sexual potency—by the shaykh 'Abd al-Rahmaan ibn Nasr ibn 'Abd Allaah al-Sheeraazee. It is a concise work beginning: “Praise belongs to God, who created the human being from clay.” It contains these verses:

Attend to the substance of this book, for we

Have found it true among us through experience.

It increases your strength and power through admonition,

And wins you favor with full-breasted beauties.

The City of the Sciences says: Among the comprehensive books in this field are The Return of the Shaykh to His Youth in Sexual Potency; The Guidance of the Intelligent toward Consorting with the Beloved; The Appointed Opening toward Capturing the Beloved; The Bride's Gift and the Polishing of Souls; and a work by Naseer al-Deen al-Toosee, which is useful in this field. The first book was printed in Cairo, Egypt, in our time; this should be noted.

The science of anatomy

It is a science that investigates the body's structure and arrangement, including its veins, nerves, cartilages, bones, flesh, and the other conditions of each organ.

Its subject is the organs of the human body, and its purpose and benefit are evident.

Its usefulness is obvious. Books of anatomy are too numerous to count, and none is more beneficial than the works of Ibn Seenaa and Imaam al-Raazee, the epistle of Ibn al-Humaam, and a useful abridgment in this field. This is what The City of the Sciences records. Aboo al-Khayr says likewise and classifies it among the branches of natural science. The epistle mentioned is not by Ibn al-Humaam but by Ibn Jamaa'a, which Ibn al-Humaam studied with him.

Ibn Sadr al-Deen said: It is a science of the details of animal organs, how they are arranged, and the marvels of innate creation and traces of divine power deposited in them. Hence it has been said: “Whoever does not know cosmography and anatomy is impotent in knowing God Most High.” End of quotation.

Most medical books undertake to explain this science, apart from the independent illustrated works devoted to it.

The science of surgery

It is a science that investigates wounds occurring in the human body, how they heal, and how they are treated; it identifies their types, the manner of cutting when necessary, the preparation and kinds of ointments and dressings, and the instruments required for them.

This science is part of medicine, although it may be recorded separately. Its benefit is very great, and it resembles practical work more than theoretical knowledge. The Book of the Method of Explanation contains enough on this subject.

I say: Its foundational work is The Reliance of Surgeons by Aboo al-Faraj.

Among the books composed on it is the Turkish Juraah-naama by Ibraaheem ibn 'Abd Allaah al-Jarraah. He states that when the fortress of Matoon was conquered, a Greek book called Jundaar was found there; he translated it and arranged it in twenty-three chapters. There is also On Head Wounds by Hippocrates, and other works. God knows best what is correct.

The science of cupping

It is a science by which one learns the conditions of cupping, how it is drawn and incised with the cupping instrument, in which parts of the body it is beneficial or harmful, and other related matters. The City of the Sciences mentions it among the branches of natural science.

The science of bathhouses

It is also called the science of the steam bath. A bathhouse is an artificial arrangement whose composite method serves both internal management and evacuation.

Its aim is to bring benefits to the body and ward off harm according to the condition of the body's elements, upon which health or illness follows. Need is what gives rise to its construction.

This science is a branch of medicine. It includes an epistle by al-Suyootee1 and an epistle by the learned Muhammad Ahsan al-Haajjee Fooree, resident of Bhopal—may God show him kindness in this life and the next.

The eminent Imaam Muhammad ibn 'Alee al-Shawkaanee said in his Wabl al-ghamaam: Reports concerning bathhouses have been transmitted, most of them weak, though some reach the level of hasan. Their general implication is that women are absolutely prohibited from entering them, while men may enter only wearing waist garments. I have treated the matter fully in the epistle called The Fletching of Arrows toward Sending the Statement, which I made a response to an epistle whose author called it Sending the Statement toward Resolving the Problem. End of his statement.2 May God have mercy on him.

[Edition footnote 1] I included in this epistle useful topics rarely found elsewhere: who first adopted the bathhouse, who invented it after it had fallen into disuse, which Companions entered it, the reports transmitted concerning it and what they indicate, its form, benefits, and harms, what should be observed when entering and leaving it, and what has been said about new and old bathhouses and their return, together with related matters. I called it Purifying Filth by Washing in the Steam Bath. Hakeem Muhammad Ahsan Haamee Booree, seeking the favor of leadership—may God preserve him.

[Edition footnote 2] I say: Resolving the Problem is an epistle by al-Shawkaanee, written in response to the eminent Sayyid 'Eesaa ibn Muhammad ibn al-Husayn, ameer of Kawkabaan, when he asked why Jews were compelled to collect refuse. His son, the eminent Sayyid 'Abd Allaah ibn 'Eesaa, answered with an epistle called Sending the Statement; al-Shawkaanee replied with one called The Fletching of Arrows. This correspondence took place while he was in the prime of youth. Mawlawee Muhammad 'Abd al-Rasheed—may God preserve him.

The science of pharmacy

It is a branch of medicine that investigates how to distinguish similar plant forms according to whether they are Chinese, Indian, or Byzantine; to identify their season, whether summer or autumn; to distinguish the good from the defective; and to know their properties. Its purpose and benefit are clear to anyone who reflects on it.

The difference between it and botany is that pharmacy primarily investigates the identification of plants' conditions, whereas botany primarily investigates their properties. The former is closer to practice and the latter to theoretical knowledge, though each overlaps with the other. This is stated in The City of the Sciences and elsewhere.

Among its newer books is The Mainstay of Practicing Physicians, known as the Aqraabaadheen, by Shaykh Mansoor Ahmad Efendi. He translated it from French, cast it into Arabic forms, and printed it in Cairo in 1283 AH, during the reign of Ismaa'eel Pasha of Egypt. He says: The science of pharmacy, that is, the science of the Aqraabaadheen, investigates the collection and selection of medicinal substances, their preparation, combination, and arrangement for medical use, without regard to chemical phenomena that may appear during these operations. End of quotation.

I examined this book and found it among the finest works composed in this field. Praise belongs abundantly to God.

The science of medicine

It is a science that investigates the human body with respect to health and illness, in order to preserve health and remove disease.

Galen said: Medicine is the preservation of health and the removal of illness.

Its subject is the human body in respect of health and disease.

Its benefit is not hidden. The honor and distinction of this science are enough to recall Imaam al-Shaafi'ee's words: “Knowledge is of two kinds: medical knowledge for bodies and jurisprudential knowledge for religions.”

It is related from 'Alee—may God ennoble his countenance—that the sciences are five: jurisprudence for religions, medicine for bodies, geometry for buildings, grammar for the tongue, and astronomy for time. The City of the Sciences records this.

The Glossary of Technical Terms says: The subject of medicine is the human body and what it contains of elements, temperaments, humors, organs, faculties, spirits, actions, and conditions of health and illness. It also includes their causes—food, drink, surrounding airs, movement and rest, evacuations and retentions, crafts, habits, foreign intrusions, and signs indicating its conditions through the harm of its actions, the states of the body, and what emerges from it. It includes regimen through food and drink, selection of air, regulation of movement and rest, simple and compound medicines, and manual procedures, for the purpose of preserving health and treating diseases as far as possible. End of quotation.

He says: Medicine belongs to natural science. It is knowledge of principles by which the conditions of human bodies, with respect to health and its absence, are learned, so that existing health may be preserved and absent health restored insofar as possible. The usefulness of these qualifications is evident. This is preferable to the definition that says it investigates what becomes healthy and loses health, for it would then be objected that a fetus unhealthy from its first formation cannot be said to have departed from health or to have lost it. This is stated in al-Sadeedee's commentary on the Epitome. Here “knowledge” means assent to propositions, though it may also mean a disposition acquired through principles, and so forth.

In the commentary on the Qaanoonja, it is defined as knowledge of the conditions of the human body and what it is composed of, with respect to health and illness. End of quotation.

Know that determining the first emergence of medicine is difficult because of the remoteness of the period, the disagreement of the ancients, and the absence of a decisive preference. Some say it is eternal; those who say bodies came into being also say medicine came into being. They are divided into two groups:

The first says that medicine was created with the human being.

The second, and larger group, says that it was discovered afterward, either through inspiration from God Most High—as Hippocrates, Galen, and all proponents of analogy held—or through human experimentation, as held by the practitioners of experiment and stratagem, Thaaslis the Sophist, Faneen, and others. They disagree about where and by what means it was discovered.

Some say the Egyptians discovered it, supporting their claim by the medicine called al-Ra's.

Others say Hermes discovered it along with the other crafts.

Others say the people of Tunis.

It is also said: the people of Syria and Phrygia, who were likewise the first to discover melody and cured the pains of the soul through melodies and rhythms.

It is said: the people of Cos, the island where Hippocrates and his fathers lived. Many ancients mention that it appeared on three islands: Rhodes, the second called Cnidus, and the third Cos.

It is said that the Chaldeans discovered it.

It is said that the magicians of Yemen discovered it.

Others say Babylon, Persia, India, the Slavs, Crete, or the people of Mount Sinai.

Those who affirm inspiration divide among themselves. Some say it was inspiration through dreams, arguing that people saw medicines in dreams, used them while awake, and were cured of difficult illnesses; everyone who used them was likewise cured.

Others say it came through inspiration from God Most High by means of experimentation.

It is also said that God created medicine because no human intellect could discover it. This was Galen's view, as transmitted by the author of The Eyes of the Reports.

Our own preferred position is that God created the craft of medicine and inspired it in humanity; it is too exalted for the intellect to encompass unaided. We find medicine superior to philosophy, whose discovery they likewise attribute to divine inspiration. Medicine therefore exists through revelation and inspiration from God Most High. Ibn Abee Saadiq said at the end of his commentary on Hunayn's Questions: I found that people in ancient times were not satisfied with this science until they had mastered most of its parts and the laws of analogy and demonstration, without which no science can dispense. When resolve later declined, authorities agreed that anyone practicing medicine needed mastery of the contents of sixteen books by Galen, which the people of Alexandria had abridged for their educated students. When later generations fell short even of that, experts required anyone content to practice medicine without becoming fully accomplished in it to master three foundational books.

The first is Hunayn's Questions.

The second is Hippocrates' Aphorisms.

The third is one of the two comprehensive compendia of treatment; the better of them was Ibn Saraabiyoon's compendium.

The first person widely known for medicine was Asclepius. He lived ninety years: fifty as a child, before his divine power became manifest, and forty as a learned teacher. He left two sons skilled in medicine and instructed them not to teach it except to their sons and household, giving the same instruction to those who came after. Thaabit said: Throughout the inhabited world Asclepius had twelve thousand students. He taught orally, and the family of Asclepius inherited the craft until its condition deteriorated under Hippocrates. Seeing that his household and followers had become few and fearing that the craft would disappear, Hippocrates began composing concise books.

'Alee ibn Ridhwaan said: Before Hippocrates, medicine was a treasure and reserve stored by fathers for their sons. It belonged to one household traced to Asclepius. This name was either that of a king whom God sent to teach people medicine, or the name of a divine power that taught them medicine. In either case, he was the first to teach the craft, and the earliest teacher was attributed to him according to the ancient custom of calling the teacher the father of the student. The descendants of this first teacher formed the household attributed to Asclepius. They were the kings and great men of Greece, and no one else learned medicine; they taught it to their sons. Thus the riddle was explained to the son. Medicine was confined to kings and ascetics, who practiced it only as benevolence toward people and without payment. This continued until Hippocrates of Cos and Democritus of Abdera arose as contemporaries. Democritus adopted asceticism, while Hippocrates undertook to record it in books in an obscure manner, fearing its loss. He had two sons, Thessalus and Draco, and a student, Polybus. He taught them, and composed a covenant, code, and testament that contained everything a physician needed concerning himself.

The City of the Sciences says: The first to write down the science of medicine was Hippocrates. Galen then appeared, from Pergamum in the Greek lands. After Aristotle, I know of no one more learned in natural science than these two, Hippocrates and Galen. Galen appeared six hundred and sixty-five years after Hippocrates' death, and he was separated from Christ by fifty-seven years; Christ was earlier.

Know that from Galen's death to this date—948 AH, the year of the Hijra of our Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him—approximately 1,476 years have passed.

Among the famous medical scholars is Muhammad ibn Zakariyyaa, Aboo Bakr al-Raazee, who composed many medical books.

Among the extremely beneficial concise works, blessed for students, is Ibn al-Nafees al-Misree's Epitome. Among the extensive works is Ibn Seenaa's Canon, on which Ibn al-Nafees and the eminent al-Sheeraazee wrote commentaries. End of quotation.

Its substance

I say: The Canon needs its wording corrected, and it needs abridgment and refinement. Its author was excessively lengthy and used crude, repellent expressions, as anyone skilled in it can see. Among newer works is the book by the learned Ahmad ibn Hasan Efendi al-Rasheedee, printed in Cairo and called The Mainstay of the Needy in the Two Sciences of Medicines and Treatment. He composed it in the name of Ismaa'eel Pasha of Egypt. It consists of several volumes compiled from Arabic and European works. He also wrote The Delight of Leaders in Treating Women's Diseases, printed in Cairo in 1260 AH in the name of Muhammad 'Alee Pasha; it is useful and excellent. He wrote as well The Promenade of Prosperity in Treating Children, a large volume printed in Egypt in 1261 AH, also in the name of Muhammad 'Alee Pasha.

Another recent book is The Grant concerning the Regulation of Health by the eminent physician Muhammad al-Haraawee, printed in Egypt in 1249 AH and translated from French into Arabic. It is a medium-sized volume.

The books composed in this science are extremely numerous. Mullaa Kaatib Çelebi lists them alphabetically in The Unveiling of Suppositions. As for the passage in Ibn Khaldoon's Introduction, it reads as follows: Among the branches of natural science is the craft of medicine. It investigates the human body with respect to illness and health. Its practitioner seeks to preserve health and cure disease with medicines and foods after identifying the illness affecting each organ, the causes from which those illnesses arise, and the medicines appropriate to each disease. He infers this from the temperaments and powers of medicines in relation to disease, using signs that indicate its maturation and acceptance of medicine—first in the constitution, excretions, and pulse—while attending to the power of nature, which governs both health and illness. The physician merely accompanies and assists it to some degree according to the nature of the matter, the season, and the age. The comprehensive science is called medicine. Sometimes they discuss a particular organ separately and make it a specialized science, such as the eye, its diseases, and its collyria.

They also appended to the discipline the benefits of the organs: that is, the function for which each organ of the animal body was created. Although this is not part of the subject of medicine, they made it one of its adjuncts and consequences.

The leading figure of this craft among the ancients, whose books were translated into it, was Galen. It is said that he was a contemporary of Jesus—peace be upon him—and it is said that he died in Sicily while striving against and yielding to exile. His writings in this field are the foundational works followed by all physicians after him.

In Islam, the leading figures of this craft included men who went beyond the utmost limit, such as al-Raazee, al-Majoosee, and Ibn Seenaa.

There were also many in al-Andalus, the most famous being Ibn Zuhr. In the present age this craft seems to have declined in Islamic cities, owing to the stagnation and diminution of civilization. It is among the crafts required only by urbanity and luxury.

Stop. The desert-dwelling peoples also possess a medicine, generally based on limited experience with particular individuals and inherited from the elders and old women of the tribe. Some of it may be sound, but it does not follow a natural law or accord with temperament. The Arabs possessed much of this kind of medicine and had recognized physicians, such as al-Haarith ibn Kalada and others.

The medicine transmitted in religious reports belongs to this category; it is not revelation. Rather, it was customary practice among the Arabs and appears in accounts of the Prophet's circumstances as a report of his customary and natural conduct, not as an indication that this particular procedure is religiously prescribed. He was sent to teach us the Law, not to teach medicine or other customary matters. This is clear from the incident concerning the pollination of date palms, when he said: “You are more knowledgeable about the affairs of your worldly life.” Nothing in the medical material found in sound transmitted reports should therefore be treated as religiously prescribed. There is no evidence for that—unless it is used for blessing and with sincere faith, in which case it may have a powerful beneficial effect. That belongs not to humoral medicine but to the effects of a word of faith, as in treating abdominal illness with honey. God guides to what is correct; there is no lord but Him.

[Edition footnote 1] This is countered by what al-Haafidh Ibn al-Qayyim said in The Provision for the Hereafter concerning the guidance of the best of creation: The Prophet's medicine is not like physicians' medicine. It is certain, definitive, and divine, issuing from revelation and the niche of prophethood. It benefits only those who receive it with acceptance, believe in its healing, and receive it fully through faith and submission. The Qur'aan, which is healing for what is in the breasts, likewise does not heal them unless received in this manner; rather, it increases the hypocrites in impurity and illness. What relation can bodily medicine have to it? Prophetic medicine suits only sound bodies, just as Qur'aanic healing suits only sound spirits and living hearts. People's turning away from prophetic medicine resembles their turning away from seeking healing through the Qur'aan, which is beneficial healing—not because the remedy is deficient, but because of the nature, corruption, and non-receptivity of the site. End of quotation. Sayyid Noor al-Hasan Khaan Bahaadur—may God preserve him.

The science of forensic medicine

The Grant concerning the Regulation of Health says: It is the medical and natural knowledge used in judgments arising among people in the courts. From this it is clear that calling it “forensic medicine” is a European technical usage; properly, it should be called judicial medicine, and we have used that name throughout what follows.

It is an art by which court officials are guided in the cases entrusted to them. Anyone who issues a judgment learns through it the formation of governments and the legal regulations whose purpose is the repose and security of their people. Judges are guided by it to recognize acts performed contrary to the Law, identify the offender, acquit the person unjustly accused, and understand civil disputes not involving crimes. Both the judge and the governmental official, lacking knowledge of matters in which medical learning provides the means of guidance, need to consult a judicial physician so that they may act beneficially for the people and not declare a person guilty without right.

A physician summoned by the ruler for a judicial matter must prepare a report of what he observes, so that it may serve as the basis on which the ruler judges. From the foregoing definition of judicial medicine and its branches, it is clear that its benefit is not limited to the reports a physician writes after examining a matter, merely to enlighten the judge. Its greater benefit is that it obliges people to use the principal medical knowledge and its adjuncts in forming judgments over disputes before authorities, whether criminal or otherwise.

The benefits of judicial medicine cannot be enumerated. No human action during social life is free of circumstances that call for this medicine, which is present everywhere and in every age. It is therefore the first and finest of the judicial arts, because its aim is the repose and security of people. The foundation of the medical knowledge used in judicial medicine is to extract from that knowledge what is most closely connected with judicial cases, arrange it, and make it a path and method to be followed. We think that no field offers rules as general and useful for the medical knowledge employed in courts as the investigation of the disciplines that contain that knowledge.

The science of Prophetic medicine

It is a science that investigates the medicine transmitted in Prophetic hadeeths, by which the sick were treated. Aboo Nu'aym Ahmad ibn 'Abd Allaah al-Isfahaanee, who died in 432 AH, composed The Prophetic Medicine, as did Jalaal al-Deen 'Abd al-Rahmaan al-Suyootee, who died in 911 AH. It begins: “Praise belongs to God, who gave every soul its creation,” and is arranged in three arts:

The first concerns the principles of medicine.

The second concerns medicines and foods.

The third concerns the treatment of diseases.

Aboo al-Hasan 'Alee ibn Moosaa al-Ridhaa wrote a treatise on it for al-Ma'moon, and al-Habeeb al-Naysaabooree also compiled it. Ibn al-Sunnee and 'Abd al-Malik ibn Habeeb wrote works in this field, as did Imaam al-Mustaghfiree. The benefit of this science is evident to everyone; let this be remembered.

The science of cooking foods, drinks, and electuaries

It is a science by which one learns how to compose delicious, beneficial foods according to differing temperaments, and how to compose medicinal compounds with respect to weight, timing, precedence and delay in mixing, what should be ground and what dissolved, how to regulate them in containers, and how to know when their benefit remains or their efficacy has vanished. These and other conditions are known by those who practice it. It is a branch of medicine, distinct from the cooking of foods.

The science of bloodletting

It investigates the instruments of bloodletting, the types of veins, and which vein should be bled for each illness, together with other matters known to its practitioners. Its aim, purpose, and benefit are evident. This is stated in The City of the Sciences.

The science of ophthalmology

It is a branch of medicine that investigates preserving the health of the eye and removing its diseases. Its subject is the human eye; its purpose and benefit are clear to anyone who reflects. Many excellent books have been composed on it.

Among them are The Ophthalmologists' Memoir, The Composition of the Eye, The Epistle on Cauterization, The Healing of the Eyes, Uncovering the Veil in the Conditions of the Eye, Images of the Eyes, The Result of Reflection on the Conditions of Sight, The Light of the Eye, The Refined Work, and others. Among the newer works is The Light of the Two Luminaries in Treating the Two Eyes, printed in Egypt. I examined it and found it among the finest books on treating eye diseases. It is by the learned and accomplished shaykh Ahmad ibn Hasan al-Rasheedee, composed in the name of Muhammad 'Alee Pasha of Egypt.