The Medical Formulary of

Al-Samarqandi: And the Relation of

Early Arabic Simples to Those Found in
the Indigenous Medicine of the Near
East and India Martin Levey
Visit to download the full and correct content document:
https://ebookmeta.com/product/the-medical-formulary-of-al-samarqandi-and-the-relati
on-of-early-arabic-simples-to-those-found-in-the-indigenous-medicine-of-the-near-eas
t-and-india-martin-levey/
More products digital (pdf, epub, mobi) instant
download maybe you interests ...

Pergamonmuseum Berlin. Collection of Classical

Antiquities, Museum of the Ancient Near East, Museum of
Islamic Art 5th Edition Martin Maischberger

https://ebookmeta.com/product/pergamonmuseum-berlin-collection-
of-classical-antiquities-museum-of-the-ancient-near-east-museum-
of-islamic-art-5th-edition-martin-maischberger/

Mesopotamian Origins The Basic Population of the Near

East Ephraim Avigdor Speiser

https://ebookmeta.com/product/mesopotamian-origins-the-basic-
population-of-the-near-east-ephraim-avigdor-speiser/

Politics and Culture in International History From the

Ancient Near East to the Opening of the Modern Age 2nd
Edition Adda B Bozeman

https://ebookmeta.com/product/politics-and-culture-in-
international-history-from-the-ancient-near-east-to-the-opening-
of-the-modern-age-2nd-edition-adda-b-bozeman/

Knossos and the near East A Contextual Approach to

Imports and Imitations in Early Iron Age Tombs 1st
Edition Vyron Antoniadis

https://ebookmeta.com/product/knossos-and-the-near-east-a-
contextual-approach-to-imports-and-imitations-in-early-iron-age-
tombs-1st-edition-vyron-antoniadis/
The Oxford History of the Ancient Near East: Volume I:
From the Beginnings to Old Kingdom Egypt and the
Dynasty of Akkad 1st Edition Karen Radner

https://ebookmeta.com/product/the-oxford-history-of-the-ancient-
near-east-volume-i-from-the-beginnings-to-old-kingdom-egypt-and-
the-dynasty-of-akkad-1st-edition-karen-radner/

Hidden Riches: A Sourcebook for the Comparative Study

of the Hebrew Bible and Ancient Near East Hays

https://ebookmeta.com/product/hidden-riches-a-sourcebook-for-the-
comparative-study-of-the-hebrew-bible-and-ancient-near-east-hays/

Apocryphal and Esoteric Sources in the Development of

Christianity and Judaism The Eastern Mediterranean the
Near East and Beyond 1st Edition Igor Dorfmann-Lazarev

https://ebookmeta.com/product/apocryphal-and-esoteric-sources-in-
the-development-of-christianity-and-judaism-the-eastern-
mediterranean-the-near-east-and-beyond-1st-edition-igor-dorfmann-
lazarev/

Palaeolithic and Mesolithic Sailors in the Aegean and

the Near East 1st Edition Adamantios Sampson

https://ebookmeta.com/product/palaeolithic-and-mesolithic-
sailors-in-the-aegean-and-the-near-east-1st-edition-adamantios-
sampson/

The Anarchy The East India Company Corporate Violence

and the Pillage of an Empire William Dalrymple

https://ebookmeta.com/product/the-anarchy-the-east-india-company-
corporate-violence-and-the-pillage-of-an-empire-william-
dalrymple/
T h e Medical Formulary
of Al-Samarqandl
T h e Medical Formulary
of Al-Samarqandl
and the Relation of Early Arabic
Simples to Those Found in the
Indigenous Medicine of the Near
East and India

MARTIN LEVEY
Rockefeller Institute
and
NOURY AL-KHALEDY
Middle East Studies Center
Portland State College

Philadelphia
University of Pennsylvania Press
(g) 1967 by the Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania

Published in Great Britain, India, and Pakistan

by the Oxford University Press
London, Bombay, and Karachi

Library of Congress Catalogue Card Number: 66-14525

7504
Printed in the United States of America
 In Memory of
John Farquhar Fulton
and
Max Meyerhof
For Their Contributions to the History of Medicine
 Preface

Very little research has been carried out in the study

of early mediaeval Eastern Arabic pharmacology. This
book, together with some earlier work of one of us, is
part of a continuing effort to remedy this lack.
We have not attempted to draw too many final con-
clusions in this work. These will have to await the study
and publication of further related texts which should
prove of assistance in the understanding of this almost
virginal field. Therefore, because of this, we have chosen
to concentrate on the gathering of facts detailed in the
section, "Notes and Comments." In this latter part of the
book, attention has been drawn to the present day usage
of old Arabic drugs, the employment of the drugs in the
much earlier al-Kindl Medical Formulary, and to the ety-
mological discussion of Arabic plant names not studied in
previous works on the subject.
It has been difficult to offer a study which must, at best,
contain many uncertainties. We have, therefore, for the
sake of our own work and for the benefit of our colleagues
in the scholarly community, not hesitated to note ques-
tionable identifications of plants and other incomplete
areas of knowledge when discussing the al-Samarqandl
text.

7
8 T h e Medical Formulary of Al-Samarqandï
As much as possible, one of us has gone over the work
of the most important of our scholarly predecessors of the
past thirty years both by review of their studies and by
examination of thousands of unlisted manuscripts in the
many branches of medicine in the Arabic belt stretching
from Morocco to India. He has also taken much time in
his travels to chat with drug sellers in the bazaars with
regard to present day indigenous medicine particularly
outside the large cities. He also had the unhappy misfor-
tune of spending a month in a Cairo hospital on the oc-
casion of a recent illness.
On various other occasions we have visited North Afri-
can and Asian hospitals which practice the particular
kinds of medicine indigenous to the areas.
We should like to thank the Turkish Government and
its library officials for the generous use of their manu-
scripts, their ready aid to scholars, and for permission to
publish the photocopy from the Aya Sofya collection. We
are also deeply obligated to Arabic manuscript libraries
in Leiden, Patna, Oxford (Bodleian) , Rabat, Fez, Tunis,
Cairo, Teheran, Hyderabad, Madras, Calcutta, and others
for their assistance in diverse ways.
Dr. W. B. McDaniel, 2d, of the Library of the College
of Physicians of Philadelphia, was very kind to furnish
the authors technical information on ancient medical ap-
paratus. Mary McG. Levey carried out the difficult task
of checking for technical and other errors as well as sug-
gesting many important ideas. We are grateful for this.
M. L. is indebted to the Public Health Service (RG-
07391) for the assistance which made it possible for him
to carry out this research.
MARTIN LEVEY
NOURY AL-KHALEDY
 Contents

Introduction 13
Problems in mediaeval Arabic pharmacology 13
Al-Samarqandi and his works 15
Literary models of Muslim pharmacological
texts 18
Geographic origins of al-Samarqandï's materia
medica 23
Indian influence and Greek background 23
Babylonian influence 28
Al-Samarqandï's pharmacotherapy 30
Theoretical aspects 30
Methods and rationale of compounding drugs 35
Chemistry in the Aqräbädhin 38
Muslim materia medica in contemporary indi-
genous medicine 41
Drugs in the Aqräbädhins of al-Kindï and al-
Samarqandï 45
Analecta 47

9
io T h e Medical Formulary of Al-Samarqandi

Translation of al-Samarqandï's Aqräbädhin 53

Introduction 53
I. Chapter Syrups and robs 61
II. Chapter Stomachic confections and
electuaries 69
III. Chapter Pills and aperients 80
IV. Chapter Decoctions and infusions 89
V. Chapter Clysters, suppositories, and
pessaries 96
VI. Chapter Emetics 107
VII. Chapter Lohochs 110
VIII. Chapter Lozenges 113
IX. Chapter Powders and stomachic powders 122
X. Chapter Dressings, coatings, and
cataplasms 126
XI. Chapter Balms 132
XII. Chapter Eye medicines 136
XIII. Chapter Poultices and aromatic powders 145
X I V . Chapter Dentifrices 150
X V . Chapter Gargles and confections 153
X V I . Chapter Preserves 155
X V I I . Chapter Sternutati ves, fragrances, and
inhalants 157
X V I I I . Chapter Bath aromatics 163
X I X . Chapter Hair medicines 166
Notes and Comments 170
Arabic-English glossary 244
Abbreviations and Selected Bibliography 262
Arabic T e x t in Photocopy 277
Indices
Greek 353
Foreign words other than Greek 355
General 370
Botanical 379
T h e Medical Formulary
of Al-Samarqandl
 Introduction

" T o know and to sleep is better than to pray and be

ignorant." —Ancient Arabic proverb

The period from the ninth to the twelfth century and

perhaps the thirteenth century may be considered as the
Golden Age of Arabic science. One of the earliest sciences
to be developed by the Muslims was pharmacology and
it was also one of the last to be supplanted by modern
science. Its dominant position in western Europe lasted
until the beginning of the nineteenth century. Today,
Arabic drugs are used in much of India and the Near
East as well as in backward areas in the West.
That Muslim 1 pharmacology could last over one thou-
sand years until the advent of modern chemistry is an
amazing point in itself. This gives rise to the question of
why Arabic medicine, pharmacology, and other Muslim
sciences are of such great interest to present day historians
of science.

»3
14 The Medical Formulary of Al-Samarqandï
One reason for it is that the Muslim world during its
Golden Age and later aided and supported these studies
at a time when western Europe was experiencing an al-
most hopeless decadence. It was the Muslims who con-
tributed so much to the rebirth of European culture. In
regard to pharmacology and chemistry, 2 the Arabs were
responsible for their development both theoretically and
practically. Not only were the Muslims transmitters of
early Greek atomic theory, for example, but they also
contributed many original ideas on the nature of the
atom, its association with other atoms, matter in relation
to the atom, and numerous elaborated theories on what
occurs in the mixing and solution process. Expanded
views on pharmacology are also to be found in al-Samar-
qandl's work. A great material aid in the growth of
Muslim pharmacology was that the Arabs established
hospitals for the first time which were much like those
known today. Licensing procedures of medical practi-
tioners by legal authorities were developed. Relevant
teaching illustrations were used in medical works. Finally,
the practice of medicine was raised from a menial to a
learned profession. All these factors had a profound influ-
ence on the exponential growth of the new Muslim
chemistry and pharmacology.
T h e r e are many fascinating aspects of the history of the
far reaching branches of Arabic medicine. One of these
is the path of transmission of pharmacology from the
ancients to the Muslims; following this is the middle
period from the ninth to the thirteenth century; and
finally there is the passing on of knowledge to Western
Europe. One of the reasons for study of al-Samarqandi's
text (early thirteenth century) is to determine what took
place in this middle or golden period beginning with
al-Kindï (ninth century) ,3 Both of these physician authors
Introduction 15
reflect the knowledge of medical practice prevalent in
Baghdad in their respective periods.
A question which frequently arises is how dependent
the Arabs were upon Greek medicine, and correlatively
whether or not the Muslims displayed originality in their
work or whether they were merely transmitters of knowl-
edge. These questions received a partial answer in a pre-
vious work on al-Kindl. However, these questions as
phrased are prejudicial. What has been omitted is any
reference to an appraisal of the importance of Indian
pharmacology and ancient Babylonian materia medica in
so far as they affect the development of Arabic studies
in this field.
T h e original correlative question, it would seem, is a
very significant one in the history of Arabic pharmacology.
Investigation of this problem has been pursued along
three general lines. The first direction was to determine
the methods of study in the form of the kinds of literary
models used by the Muslims in this area and to determine
their relation to those used earlier in other cultures.
Secondly, the etymology of hundreds of terms from the
Arabic materia medica 3a has been determined and ana-
lysed to obtain the relative number originating in the
Indian and Persian, Mesopotamian, North African, and
Greek pharmacopoeias. Thirdly, the theoretical ideas of
al-Samarqandi's text were studied in relation to pre-ninth-
century pharmacology to determine, if possible, original
steps made by the Muslims beyond the well established
humoral concepts of antiquity.

ΛΙ-Samarqandi and His JVorks

In the early thirteenth century, the long symbiosis of
the Arabs, who loved knowledge and their religion, and
i6 T h e Medical Formulary of Al-Samarqandi

the Persians, w h o possessed a rare scientific acumen, was

broken asunder by the incursions of northern armies. T h e
immediate result of this sad event was the sweeping vic-
tory of the barbarian hordes over much of the Asiatic
Near East going as far as Baghdad. In one of these early
invasions, the entire city of Herat, said to have a popula
tion of one and a half million, was put to the sword.
T h e devastation was far reaching in that the great
centers of culture were sacked, libraries were destroyed,
and scientists and writers were wiped out. As a result
of this holocaust, Persia remained almost a complete cul-
tural v a c u u m until toward the end of the century when
the invaders began to foster the growth of astronomy
and medicine.
Al-Samarqandï, whose full name was abü Hämaid M. b.
C A. c O .
N a j ï b al-Dfn al-Samarqandï, 4 met his death in the
pillage of Herat, Persia, by the Tartars in 1222 A. D. He
was an eminent physician w h o flourished in the time of
Fakhr al-DIn al-Râzï (d. 1210), the great philosopher.
Of his various medical works, all written in Arabic, the
most important is "Etiology and Symptoms [of Diseases],"
of which many manuscripts are known. T h i s best known
work of al-Samarqandl is called in Arabic Al-asbäb wa'
l-calämät. It is k n o w n also in the commentary of Nafïs
ibn c I w a d al-Kirmân! (d. 1449) w h o wrote Sharh al-asbäb
wa'l-calämät.5 As late as 1700/01, M. Arzani wrote a larger
work based on this commentary. H e called it Tibb-i-
akbarï.β A c c o r d i n g to ibn abï U$aibi c a, 7 al-Samarqandï
also wrote a book on the treatment of diseases by diet,
and two medical formularies, a large and a small one. A
treatise 8 on the principles of c o m p o u n d i n g of drugs is
also ascribed to al-Samarqandï in the early bibliographical
literature; it is called Ufül tarkïb [al-adwiya]. Other works
still extant on the subject of medicine are listed b e l o w :
Introduction 17
Al-adwiya al-mufrada, "Simple Drugs."
Aghdhiyat al-mardä, "Diet for the 111."
Al-aghdhiya wa' l-ashriba wamä yattasil bihä, "Food
and Drink and What Is Basic in Them."
Fi mudäwät waja° al-mafä$il, "On the Cure of Pains
of the Joints."
Fï al-tibb, "On Medicine."
Fï kaifìyat tarkïb tabaqät al-cain, "On the Kind of
Composition of the Layers of the Eyes."
Tractatus de medicamentis repertu facilibus.
Aqräbädhin, "Medical Formulary."
Fï ciläj man suqiya al-sumüm au nahashahu al-ha-
wämm waghairhä, "On the Treatment for One Who
Has Been Given Poison, or Bitten by Vermin, and
Similar Cases."
Ghäyat al-gharad ft mucälajat al-amräd, " T h e Last
Word on the Goal of Treating the 111."
Ft ittikhadh ma' al-jubn wamanâfi'ihï wakaifïyat
isti'mälih, "On Administration of Water of Cheese, Its
Benefits, and the Kinds of Its Uses." 9
Fï al-adwiya al-mustacmala cinda al-sayädila, "On
Drugs Prepared by Pharmacists."
The extant works of al-Samarqandï thus are devoted
largely to simple and compound drugs and their prepara-
tion. The Aqräbädhin,10 the subject of this book, is also
called Kitäb al-qaräbädhtn °ala tartïb al-cilal, "Book of
the Medical Formulary on Compounding for Diseases."
The translation was done mainly from the Aya Sofya
MS 3555 with aid from the Leiden MS 1353. The former
manuscript, which is far superior to the Leiden, Patna,
and Bodleian copies,11 the only others extant, has forty-
one folios with seventeen lines to the page in a Naskhi
hand.
In addition to a lengthy introduction, the text is di-
i8 T h e Medical Formulary of Al-Samarqandl
vided into nineteen chapters: 1. syrups and robs, 2. sto-
machic confections and electuaries, 3. pills and aperients,
4. decoctions and infusions, 5. clysters, suppositories, and
pessaries, 6. emetics, 7. lohochs, 8. lozenges. 9. powders
and stomachic powders, 10. dressings, coatings, and cata-
plasms, 1 1 . balms, 12. collyria, 13. poultices and aromatic
powders, 14. dentifrices, 15. gargles and confections, 16.
snuff remedies, 17. sternutatives, fragrances, and inhalants,
18. bath aromatics, and 19. hair medicines.

Literary Models of Muslim

Pharmacological Texts
In regard to the question already posed as to whether
the Muslims were original or merely transmitters of Greek
knowledge, one aspect of the answer has already been
considered in a statistical study of the origins of Muslim
simples. 12 Another facet of study should take account of
the types or models of pharmacological literature existing
before the hijra. In the ancient and mediaeval periods
and up to the early part of the nineteenth century, new
qualitative levels of understanding in medicine brought
on varied rhetorical forms for the requisite literary ex-
planation. Arabic pharmacology was not an exception
to this.
In ancient Mesopotamia, medical knowledge was partly
in rhetorical form; chemical, astronomical, medical, and
other scientific data were also organized into long lexical
lists. Usually, these lists contained related names side by
side. T h e following, an excerpt from a long medical list
which is representative, gives the corresponding Sumerian
and Akkadian terms in their respective columns.
Introduction 19
DISEASE L I S T (incomplete)
Sumerian Translation Akkadian Translation
DUB comes out su-ú-lu comes up
DUB comes out um-sa-tum sore
GUG.SU.GUG increasingly
increasingly pi-in-du-ú pustule
light
SU. UM flesh ba-sá-lu to rub
SU.Τ AB a sickness um-sa-tu paralysed hand
UM.DU „.G
11 A excrescence ka-tar-ru dry rot

It was primarily the Sumerians, Akkadians, and Hittites

who organized these lists. These were the earliest attempts
to organize facts on science and other subjects. For ex-
ample, in the HARRA-hubullu lexical series, written in
cuneiform, tablets three to seven give the names of trees,
parts of trees, products of trees, and objects made of
wood; tablets eight and nine give names of reeds and ob-
jects made of reed; tablets ten to twelve give names of
vessels, ovens, clay objects, hides, chemicals, objects of
bronze, copper, silver, and gold; tablet sixteen contains
names of stones; and tablet seventeen has names of plants.
In the medical area in other series, there are lists of
anatomical terms, names of diseases, pharmaceuticals, and
types of symptoms.13
T h e text of Dioscorides on materia medica in the time
of the Greeks treats each drug separately giving its origin,
description, and the pharmacological uses of the effective
morphological parts of the plants. It is divided into five
major books: aromatics, oils, resins, and trees; animal
products and sharp herbs; roots, juices, and herbs; drugs
useful for poisons; and vines, wines, minerals, and stones.
Galen wrote books on the strength of purgative drugs, on
simple drugs, on compounded drugs, on nutritive drugs,
drugs which purge and improve, and three books relating
to theriacs.14 The medical encyclopedia of Paul of Aegina
(//. ca. 640) contains much pharmacology in the seventh
20 The Medical Formulary of Al-Samarqandï
book on simple and compound remedies. The simples are
arranged alphabetically together with their properties and
uses. Paulos took his material on this subject mainly from
Galen who, in turn, owed much to Dioscorides. The
compound remedies fall into such groupings as purga-
tives, salves, emmenagogues, antidotes, pastilles, powders,
mouth salves, sweet drinks, collyria, plasters, oils, and
aromata.16
The Muslims, on the other hand, elaborated on the
Greek classification and originated new major types of
pharmacological literary models. The Muslim approaches
to pharmacology became not only more numerous but
more flexible. Since the pharmacological literature flow-
ered into works which considered the subject from a
great variety of new directions, there resulted new under-
standing and new lines to investigate.
Arabic pharmacological texts may be divided mainly
into those bearing directly on the subject and others
which are closely related. In the case of the latter, which
reveal much of the Arabic materia medica, there are
many works on travel, the hisba, which is the common law
regulating particularly medicine and pharmacy, medical
biography and bibliography, botany, zoology, the lapi-
daries, and others.
Since the Muslims were excellent organizers of knowl-
edge, their purely pharmacological texts were carefully
directed along many directions. As a result, these books
generally fall into more or less well delineated groups.
Some of these major types of Arabic pharmacological
literature may be categorized as follows:
ι. Medical formularies
2. Books on poisons
3. Synonymic lists of simples usually in alphabetical
order
Introduction 21

4. Tabellar, synoptic treatises

5. Alphabetical lists of materia medica including
therapeutic considerations and opinions of various
writers on the subject
6. Substitute drugs
7. Methods for testing purity of drugs
8. Works on drugs for particular diseases concerned
with the heart, eyes, sexual organs, and others.
In the case of the medical formularies, there are varied
types. One of these is the abbreviated text, "Compounded
Drugs Used in Most Ailments." It is called Mukhtajar ft
al-adwiya al-murakkaba al-mustacmala fï akthar al-amräd
by Sahlän ibn Kaysän (d. 990). Included in this book are
chapters on myrobalan confections, electuaries, pills, aperi-
ents, pastilles, powders, syrups, lohochs and robs, gargles,
collyria, suppositories, pessaries, cataplasms, oils and lo-
tions, oral medicines and dentifrices, and ointments. 18
A better known example of the medical formulary, and
one from which much of the preceding one was taken, is
Al-dustür al-bimäristäni fi'l adwiya al-murakkaba of Abu'I
Fadl Dä'üd b. a. al-Bayän al-Isrâ'ïlï (b. 1161). Bayän
practised in the famous al-Nâçirî Hospital in Cairo. T h i s
treatise is divided much like the previous one of Sahlän.
Al-Kindï (ninth century) also wrote a text of this type
called Aqräbädhin,17 It is a compilation of prescriptions
falling into the same general categories as those of Bayän
and ibn Kaysän. Al-Samarqandï's present text is similar
to this. 18
Texts on poisons are very old and were known to the
Greeks and Indians. An early one in Arabic is the Kitäb
al-sumüm of ibn Wahshlya (fl. before 912). T h e author
was born of an Aramaean family in Iraq. He was much in-
terested in agriculture, alchemy, and in the occult sciences
generally. His book on poisons is largely a translation from
22 The Medical Formulary of Al-Samarqandï
the Syriac authors Yärbüqä and Sühäb Sat whose works
came originally from Indian and perhaps old Babylonian
sources. Ibn Wahshïya gives many names of poisons known
today as mythical. Antidotes to ward off the supernatural
poisons are described.19
There are many alphabetical lists of materia medica in
the Arabic literature. These generally include the prepa-
ration, description, therapeutic usage of drugs, and the
opinions of other writers on the remedies. Although most
of these are based on the organization and on much of
the contents of Dioscorides' famous book, nevertheless,
the Arabic works are much fuller, both in the number of
drugs discussed and in the extent of the particular dis-
cussions.
Ibn al-Baitär (thirteenth century) 20 is probably the
best known writer in Arabic who followed the Greek
pharmacological tradition. It is known, however, that
much of his compilatory work is based upon the earlier
treatise of al-Ghâfiqï (twelfth century) . 21 This text is a
compilation also from earlier authors as Dioscorides, Ga-
len, abu Hanïfa (d. 895), al-Râzï (d. 923/4), ibn Sina
(980-1037), al-Majüsí (d. 994), cIsä b. c Alî (ninth cen-
tury), al-Bïrûnï (973-1048), al-Idrïsî (1100-1166), Mai-
monides (1135-1204), ibn Jazla (d. 1100), ibn Riçlwân
(ca. 980-1060), and others.
A typical entry in the abbreviated version is that of
utrujj.22 The authors quoted are abü Hanïfa, Dioscorides,
ibn Sina, Galen, ibn Mäsawaih, and Ishäq b. Sulaimän
al-Isrâ'ïlï of Qairawän. This text gives a Greek synonym,
botanical and therapeutic facts, and also some physical
properties of each of the plant's morphological parts.
Being excellent synthesizers of knowledge (which was
then growing by leaps and bounds) the Muslims were
fond of building tables for their data to give a ready
Introduction 23
reference form. An excellent example of this is the work
of ibn Biklärish (fl. 1106) called Kitäb al-Mustacïnï,2A In
the five columns on two facing pages, the following is
given for each drug: name, Galenic nature and grade,
synonyms in Persian, Syriac, Greek, Latin, and Spanish,
substitute drug and preparation, therapeutic value, and
therapeutic uses of the drug.
T h i s last type of pharmacological literary model, the
synoptic tabellar text, was original with the Muslims and
served an effective purpose in view of the quickly rising
quantitative level of the Muslim materia medica.
Although some of the Arabic types are related to the
Greek models in varying degrees, a successful effort was
constantly being made by the Muslims to expand and im-
prove over the previous models so that the huge body of
pharmaceutical knowledge would be more readily avail-
able to the physician in need.

Geographic Origins of
al-SamarqandPs Materia Medica
A. I N D I A N INFLUENCE
In view of the fact that the Muslims were the dominant
power in most of the early mediaeval world and were
also great seafarers and travelers having contact with
Eastern Asia and East Africa, it is of interest to examine
how this affected their materia medica.
In the Golden Age, the Arabs expanded their trade and
commerce to the point where they acted as intermediaries
between the Far East and the West as far as Spain, Mo-
rocco, and Italy. Arab ships went from Baghdad, the home
of the c Abbäsid Empire, to ports in China, India and up
the Indus River, to Ceylon, and to East Africa. T h e y also
24 T h e Medical Formulary of Al-Samarqandi
sailed the Mediterranean, the Black and Caspian Seas, as
well as up and down the Nile. 24
T h e learned V. Minorsky, in his translation of a Per-
sian geography of 982 A. D., states that there were many
Muslims in Canton in Muhammad's time. T h i s anony-
mous treatise gives excellent descriptions of the caravan
routes of the early Arabs and Persians to India and
China. 2 5
How much did the Arabs depend on the pharmacology
of other peoples with whom they were acquainted in
trade? Did the difficulty of obtaining simples from distant
places affect their usage by the Arabs? As to the Muslim
knowledge of the ancients, there is evidence that the
Sumerians and Akkadians had transmitted their learning
in medicine to the Arabs through various intermediaries.
Since ancient Mesopotamian pharmacology is still imper-
fectly known, it will be more rewarding to commence by
looking into the early Greek period to determine some
of the latter's sources of drugs.
In the Hippocratic period, the materia medica used
came not only from Greece and its colonies but also from
foreign countries. For example, some of the vegetable and
mineral simples came from Egypt, which had already
been known in Homeric times as a land of great physi-
cians. In the Hippocratic corpus are to be found many
simples with the adjective "Egyptian," as for example
Egyptian alum, Egyptian bean, Egyptian cumin, and
Egyptian salt. Some believe that they are found in these
works because Hippocrates is presumed to have traveled
in Egypt. However, trade among some of the highly
civilized Greek islands and Egypt throve throughout the
first millennium B.C. and earlier. Egypt enjoyed a fine
reputation as a great center of culture at that time.
Many simples of the Hippocratic corpus were derived
Introduction 25
from India. Some scholars have been of the opinion that
Pythagoras and others had been in India and had brought
back to Greece the Indian medical lore. 26 Theophrastus
remarks in his work on plants that the aromata for salves
came by ship from India. Some of the botanicals used by
the Greeks and which originated in India were carda-
mom, certain species of nard such as Valeriana Jatamansi
Roxb., camel hay, Cymbopogon Schoenanthus Spreng.,
Indian sesame which is Sesamum indicum L., and various
species of cinnamon.
Much of the early Greek materia medica came from
Persia, such as sal ammoniac and coriander. From Arabia
came myrrh and frankincense, and from locations north
of Greece came other remedies, aside from the vast ma-
jority of simples which were native to Greece, its colonies,
and its neighboring shores on the Mediterranean.
T h e Muslims inherited the Hippocratic pharmacology
together with the further works of, among others, Theo-
phrastus, Dioscorides, Galen, and Paul of Aegina. Thus,
in inheriting the Greek medicine, the Arabs came to know
simples from many distant parts of the then known world.
After this, they added to their oral store of Babylonian
medicine the early medical knowledge of the writings
of the Indians and Egyptians.
Laufer 27 has pointed out the intensive commercial and
cultural intercourse in drugs between India and Persia.
As a result, when studying these in the light of their
origin, it is helpful frequently to place those drugs com-
ing from Persia and India under one heading. T h e
reason for this may be seen, for example, in the Indian
drugs or products which occur in abü Manjür's (fl. ca.
961-976) Kitäb al-abnïya can haqäiq al-adwiya "Book of
the Foundations of the T r u e [Foundations] of Remedies."
This was originally a Persian treatise on the materia me-
26 The Medical Formulary of Al-Samarqandï
dica of the time, containing in all close to 600 simples.
Abü Manjür's information, from Persian, Syriac, Greek,
and Indian sources, came largely from his own personal
experience and extensive travels in Persia and India.
In discussions on the origin of Persian materia medica
in regard to India, the Babylonian contribution has been
almost entirely neglected or obscured. As a result, Lau-
ter 2 8 has ascribed an Indian origin to Arabic and Per
sian drugs which are properly Babylonian such as, for
example, soda, Ar. ushnän, and mungo bean, Ar. mäsh,
mangu in Akk. Indian remedies in abü Manjür include
rice, Ar. aruz, Pers. bitrinj (Oryza sativa); citron, Ar.
utrujj, Pers. turunj (Citrus medica) from Sans, mätulunga;
myrobalan, Ar. ihlilaj, Pers. halïla, (Terminalia chebula),
Sans, haritaki; belleric myrobalan Ar. balïlij, Pers. balîla
(Terminalia bellerica), Sans, vibhïtaka; emblic myrobalan,
Ar. amlaj, Pers. amila (Emblica officinalis), Sans, amala,
Chin, an-mi-lo; croton, Ar. dand from Sans, danti (Cro-
ton polyandrus); Himalayan cedar, Pers. dïvdâr (Pinns
or Cedrus Deodàra) from Sans, devadäru; ginger, Ar. shan-
galil, Middle Pers. shangavir, Ar.-Pers. zanjabïl (Zingibir
officinale) from Sans, çrngavera; scammony, Ar. saqmü-
niyä (Convolvulus scammonia); sugar, Ak. sukkar from
Prakrit and Pâli sakkharä, Sans, çarkara; coconut, Ar.
narjïl (Cocos nucífera) from Sans, nârikelo; also indigo,
lesser cadamom, mandrake, sandalwood, pepper, cloves,
and a score of others. Laufer 29 gives a total of 52 out of
466 botanicals as Indian, or 11 per cent. This percentage
is low since Laufer, it seems, mentions only those plants as
being of Indian origin which are native to India and
rarely found in Persia. Not taken into account are those
botanicals growing in both Persia and India and found
in the older Indian medical literature.
When the fossil evidence obtained from botanonymic
Introduction 27

e v i d e n c e is considered, then it appears that the c o m b i n e d

Persian-Indian o r i g i n of abü M a n j ü r plant simples ap-
proaches m u c h closer to the statistical results obtained in
a similar study of the geographic distribution of the
origins of al-Samaraqandï's materia medica. In the latter,
the Persian-Indian simples account for 54 per cent of the
materia medica; the Babylonian, 20 per cent; the G r e e k ,
17 per cent; the pre-Islamic A r a b i c , 6 per cent; Egyptian,
2 p e r cent; and the Chinese, less than 1 per cent.
A typical etymological account used in the above deter-
m i n a t i o n of a botanical term may be seen in the o u t l i n e
for wajj.

A r . wajj, Acorus Calamus L., sweet-flag.

Sum. GI.DÙG Sans, vucha o r vaca
A k k . qanù tabu i
G r . ακορον ασττληνιον Guzerat vaz
i Deccan bache

M o d e r n A r . aikar, ighir, ikkur

Malabar vazabu
Concan vaicam
i
Turk, egur Hindi gora vach
I
Hieroglyphic Egyptian ks Pers. väj
i i
Coptic kas Ar. wajj
The sweet-flag is from China, Japan, and India.

A t this point, it is of some interest to compare the

sources of A r a b i c names of the materia medica in al-
Kindi's Aqräbädhin w i t h those in the w o r k of the same
name in al-Samarqandï. In time and place, there is a great
difference between these two men. A l - K i n d ï , w h o w o r k e d
in the ninth century and whose parents came f r o m A r a b i a ,
wrote his w o r k in Baghdad, a crossroad of the ancient
caravan routes and an intellectual center. 2 8 " Al-Samar-
qandi, w h o was in B a g h d a d for a time, lived and w o r k e d
28 The Medical Formulary of Al-SamarqandT
hundreds of years later in Herat, an important city of
ancient Persia having many cultural ties with India and
the East. It would be logical, therefore, to assume, a priori,
a difference between the materia medica of the Persian
and that of the Baghdad physician.
The statistical results bear this out. In al-Kindï's Aqrä-
bädhin, 31 per cent of the materia medica comes from
Persian-Indian sources, 33 per cent from Mesopotamia,
25 per cent from Greek origins, 5 per cent from Arabic,
and 3 per cent from ancient Egyptian origins.
It appears then from examination of these figures that
it probably was not a particular author on pharmacology,
such as Dioscorides or any other, who exerted the greatest
influence on the choice of simples. A more important
factor seems to have been the geographic availability of
the botanicals, minerals, and zoologicals. Since the evi-
dence is not yet complete in regard to the botanonymic
and botanical studies of the materia medica of other re-
gions like Egypt, North Africa, and Spain, the above
conclusion must, of necessity, remain tentative.30 One fact
is certain, however; this is that Arabic writers on phar
macology, such as al-Kindl and al-Samarqandï, increas-
ingly owed much as time passed to Indian medicine for its
contribution of materia medica.
With the establishment of the Muslim hegemony in
the Near East, trade with the Middle and Far East pros-
pered so that Indian and also some Chinese simples found
a permanent role in Muslim chemistry and pharmacology.

B. B A B Y L O N I A N I N F L U E N C E ON
ARABIC PHARMACOLOGY
An important factor much neglected by historians is
the oral transmission of ideas and technical know-how in
ancient and mediaeval times. A very difficult period hav-
Introduction 29
ing little scientific manuscript material in Semitic lan-
guages is from 300 B.C. to the beginning of Islam in Meso-
potamia and Egypt. As a result of this, the Semitic con-
tinuity in the knowledge of technical terminology and
technological methods must have been passed down orally,
to a considerable extent, from father to son. The pre-
Islamic oral literature, in its terminological richness, is
partial evidence of this.
The Akkadian knowledge must have found its way, at
least in part, into the succeeding Semitic Aramaic, He-
brew, and Syriac cultures and literatures. Linguistically,
it was much simpler for the early Arabs to have translated
these languages or to obtain oral material through them
rather than through the Indo-European group of lan-
guages such as Persian and Greek. However, Persian physi-
cians and scientists gathered much material from the
Indo-European Sanskrit and related tongues in India.
In the case of the transmission of pharmacology to the
Arabs, the two largest groups of origin would be ex-
pected to be the Indian (through the Persian) and the
Semitic sources going back to the Akkadian in ancient
Mesopotamia. The evidence of many Indian loanwords
and plants in Muslim pharmacology has already been
demonstrated. T o a lesser extent, depending somewhat on
the geographic area, the Muslims derived much of their
materia medica from the Semitic Babylonian sources.
Some examples of simples in al-Samarqandï that were
originally Babylonian are lead, Ar. abär, Akk. abaru, Sum.
A.BAR; myrtle Ar. äss, Akk. äsu; onion, Ar. bafal, Akk.
bifru, Heb. bësël; lupine, Ar. turmus, Sum. TAR.MUS,
Syr. turm'sä; thyme (Thymus vulgaris L.), häshä', Akk.
hasü; mustard, Ar. khardal, Akk. haldappänu; lettuce, Ar.
khass or khas, Akk. hassu, Sum. HI.IS.SAR, Heb. khasä;
peach, Ar. khaukh, Akk. hahhu, Syr. hahhâ; and others
3o The Medical Formulary of Al-Samarqandï
according to the evidence in the notes to the translation.
In these examples, based on botanonymic studies, i.e.
the etymological explanation of botanical terms, the re-
sults are fairly obvious. For others, the relevant data must
come from other directions such as the geographic in-
digenousness of the botanicals in ancient times, the num-
ber of species and varieties in various geographic areas,
archeological remains of plants and their representations,
ancient agriculture, modern uses and occurrence in the
Near East, Asia, and North Africa, and the names, both
in the professions and in the bazaars, presently in use in
India, Persia, Iraq, Egypt, China, and North Africa. The
materia medica and botany of ancient Babylonia are well
worth studying in this connection. T h e method of botano-
nymic study has been described elsewhere. 31

A 1-SamarqandP s Pharmacotherapy
A. T H E O R E T I C A L ASPECTS

A direction to explore which may help to clarify the

relationship of al-Samarqandi's ideas to those of the
Greeks concerns the development of a chemical-pharma-
cological theory among the Muslims.
The basic theory of matter which the Greeks held was
that there are four elements: air, fire, earth, and water.
These, according to Aristotle, composed the substance of
man; the "accidents" 32 of man are the four humors, cold,
hot, dry, and moist.
In the Hippocratic corpus, the writings ultimately rely
upon empirical evidence (when this was possible) rather
than theory in the actual dispensing of drugs to the
patient. It was the theoretical which issued from the prac-
tical experience, and not vice versa. Furthermore, reme-
Introduction Si
dies were chosen to bring the patient back to health in
the most direct way possible. Thus, compounded remedies
were preferred by the Hippocratic physicians.
In addition, the earliest Greeks believed that many ill-
nesses could be cured by the vis mediatrix natural, that
man finds his own way to health very often through the
unconscious intervention of natural reactions in the body.
One of the purposes of drugs in Hippocratic works was,
then, to aid nature to carry out this healing reaction. 33
With time, the humoral theory became entrenched in
Greek medical thought as may be seen in Galen and Dio-
scorides. It was this idea that was inherited by the Mus-
lims. But the latter went a step further; to explain the
next development, it is first necessary to discuss atomicity
very briefly.
T h e development of atomic theory by the Arabs is
closely allied with the particulate theory of medicine.
In the tenth and eleventh centuries, generation (the com-
ing into being) and corruption (the passing away) were
of great interest to philosophers. Earlier there had been
the monists and pluraliste. T h e former believed that gen-
eration and corruption were processes of the same sub-
stances; the latter contended that generation was the
combination, and corruption the dissociation of elemen-
tary bodies making up a whole.
Ibn Rushd, or in Latin Averroës ( 1 1 2 6 - 1 1 9 8 ) , was a
great admirer of Aristotle as had been ibn Sina (Avi-
cenna, b. 980 in Bukhara). Furthermore Averroës was
Aristotle's most famous interpreter in the great Islamic
period. In relating how composite bodies originate from
the elements, he wrote: 34

Since we maintain that hot and cold may be absolute and

may also be subject to increase and decrease, we say that
32 T h e Medical Formulary of Al-Samarqandï
which is generated out of them is not absolutely hot or abso-
lutely cold, but rather do we say that it is hot and cold
simultaneously just as we say of intermediates, i.e. hot relative
to the absolutely cold at the extreme and cold relative to the
absolutely hot at the extreme. . . . It takes place by way
of mixture.

Mixture was then an important subject. Averroës

writes: 3 5

Mixture occurs when each one of two contraries acts upon

the other with nearly equal force in such a way that the
miscibles acquire a single property intermediate between
these two contraries. The substratum for this property will
necessarily be the combined magnitude of the miscibles, as
is the case when each one of the miscibles ,as it is altered by
the other, acquires a given property to an equal extent so
that when each attains the intermediate property which is
naturally a single property of a single substratum, the sub-
stratum of both is their combined magnitudes.

All these ideas are transferable and applicable to the

humoral theory. It is no coincidence that Averroës was a
strong exponent of this idea 3 6 as were so many of his
fellow Muslims. At the same time, he opposed any exten-
sion of his ideas to the concept of atomicity.
In order to appreciate more fully what Averroës, al-
Samarqandï, and many more Arabic physicians stated in
regard to theories of pharmacology and medicine, it
should be remembered that they carried out their work
with a new background of thinking somewhat removed
from that of the Greeks. It cannot be denied that much
of the Greek influence persisted, but, through the inten-
sive development of atomicity in Arabic philosophy,
chemistry, and, in turn, pharmacology, many of the old
Greek terms took on new meaning.
T h e particulate idea, as expounded by the mutakal-
limun, expositors of the kalâm ("conversation" or contro-
Introduction 35
versy in the first century and a half to answer objectors
to the Islamic thought), is described by Maimonides. 36 "
Some of the important bases of this concept, as given
by Maimonides (who, by the way, rejected it), influenced
the Arabic idea of the humoral theory. Briefly, some of
the points of the atomic theory are:
ι. Every corporeal substance is made up of very small
parts called atoms. T h e atoms have no quantitative
properties or relationships but may at different
times possess qualitative values.
2. T o the atom may be appended certain properties
called "accidents," such as rest, motion, life, death,
ignorance, knowledge, combination, separation,
cold, and so on.
3. Atoms themselves must have the attached "acci-
dents," and only atoms have "accidents."
4. Matter is inseparable from "accidents."
5. T h e r e are only material atoms and their accom-
panying "accidents." T h e nature of the "spirit"
was a great difficulty for Arabian theologians and
scientists. 3eb
Not all Arabian theorists believed exactly in the atomic
idea as expressed above. There were many variations as
well as objections throughout the entire Arabic period.
It is not too difficult to see, however, that the Arabian
physicians, many of whom were also philosophers of note,
looked beyond hot and cold, and moist and dry. As a
result, the rigidity of the application of humoral therapy
was ameliorated by a flexibility frequently alluded to by
Muslim medical men. Al-Samarqandl comes out openly
with his reasons for following a more elastic approach:

For one who wishes to obtain benefit from a [compounded

remedy] and for one who uses it, it must be exposed to the
34 T h e Medical Formulary of Al-Samarqandï
rules of compounding and he must be free in dealing with it
accordingly until he attains the right thing. Then he tries it.

Some "accidents" are mentioned in a passage in al-

Samarqandi: 360

Whoever notices the differences [in amounts] these pre-

scriptions and their frequency in the aqräbädhm, sees the
variations among them, and that each kind is taken for a
specific ailment, will realize then that the differences occur
because of the variations in the state of the illness. The
latter would be in the acuteness, weakness, sharpness, and
chronicity; and the variations in the quantity of heat and
cold, the state of thickness, gentleness, whether it be com-
pounded or simple, and excessive. It is also according to the
different conditions of the patient in strength and weakness,
the periods of his sickness to excess, the beginning, decline,
and end, and the "accidents" which happen to the patient
during illness.

T o describe the reluctance of some physicians to allow

for growth and development of knowledge, al-Samarqandi
quotes the poet al-Mutanabbï: 3 6 d " T h e i r works remain
after the masters because of cowardice. Perdition may
touch them but they are still followed."
T o return to al-Samarqandï, it is significant that he
does not rely entirely on the humoral theory, and, in the
practical art of compounding, does not consider the theory
of decisive importance. In general, however, al-Samar-
qandï is aware of many "accidents," and attempts to
consider all of them in the preparation of a remedy. In
a sense, the pharmacotherapeutic ideas of al-Samarqandï
are somewhat akin to those in the Hippocratic corpus;
but al-Samarqandï has come forth with the further step
of not only considering the humors but also taking ac-
count of many "accidents" in a much broader theorization
of the basic pragmatic value of drugs.
Introduction 35
Similarly, al-Samarqandï agrees with a basic idea also
manifested t h r o u g h o u t the H i p p o c r a t i c corpus, that of
the i m p o r t a n c e of nature in healing.

T h e physician should not treat everything of a minor

character or small change occurring in the body with a drug.
Rather, he should treat it by changing the method of man-
agement and by adjusting the necessary basic conditions. He
must not stir up anything nor impair the body in its natural
functions. It is more difficult to quiet the stirring than to stir
the quiet. Whenever we can, we should treat by nutritive
drugs, and, if compelled, by pure drugs not going beyond
the simples as much as possible. 37

In contrast with al-Kindï, al-Samarqandï describes in

detail the theoretical pharmacology of his day. It must
be remembered, however, that the ideas expressed by al-
Samarqandï do not find their proper and logical expres-
sion in his pharmacological practise. T o more clearly
understand al-Samarqandï's ideas of pharmacology in its
truly empirical content, it is important to examine the
manner of and his actual reasons for the compounding
of drugs.

B. M E T H O D S O F C O M P O U N D I N G D R U G S
According to al-Samarqandï, "there are reasons which
compel one to compound [drugs] in the absence of a
simple which attains the desired goal. It is partly because
of the aspect of the nature of sickness and diseases, partly
because of the state of the organs, and partly because of
of the drug."

Fourteen practical reasons are given for the use of

compounded drugs:
ι. T h e first concerns the extent of the ill humor if
36 T h e Medical Formulary of Al-Samarqandi
there is no drug opposite to it in its strength. It is then
compounded from one which is stronger in the quantity
of its [humor] with one which is less so. From these a
blend is put together to resist that ill humor.
2. The next is concerned with the strength and acute -
ness of the illness when there is no single drug which is
effective. It is then compounded so that the constituents
may have a synergistic action.
3. There are differences in the state of a disease and
associated circumstances and its treatment; a drug is un-
known which performs at the same time opposite actions
like absorbing and bringing up in chest ailments or the
abetting and hindering of tumors. Compounding is then
necessary.
4. T o counteract many poisons and different ailments, a
compounded drug is necessary so that it may possess a
strength superior to the strengths of all simples.
5. The distance of an ailing organ from the stomach is
important in that a useful drug must be compounded with
one which will help it to reach the ill organ quickly.
6. The strength and importance of the ill organ must
be taken into account. Usually a drug to dissolve a tumor
and one to ease the symptoms are compounded together
in a remedy.
7. T h e distastefulness of a drug must be remedied with
one which can improve it.
8. T h e excessive strength of a drug may be taken care
of, for example, by mixing it with turpeth.
9. A drug may be added to prevent harm by the ori-
ginal drug as in the use of correctives with purgatives.
10. Sometimes a single drug like gum in the collyrium
of verdigris is inadequate.
1 1 . The evil property of a drug may be destroyed by
another as by mixing castoreum with opium.
Introduction 37

12. An added drug may have the power of keeping the

original strength of an important drug for a long time.
13. There is a difference in drugs in their doses and
usages. A mixture of both may be desired.
14. In order to use a single drug effectively, sometimes
it is necessary to mix it with another, as, for example, an
unguent with verdigris for wounds. 38

In the calculation of the weights of the drugs to be

used, there are seven simple determining factors to be
considered:

1. Strength of the drug's natures.

2. Its effectiveness.
3. Its benefits.
4. Its usefulness, alone or with other drugs.
5. Distance from the stomach of the ailing organ.
6. Drugs in the compounded remedy which weaken its
strength.
7. Ill effects of the drug on other organs.

It is perhaps worthwhile to quote al-Samarqandï on the

subject of experience with prescribing and compounding:

The method of analogy is safe and is used dependably in

all medical practice. The fact that it is difficult should not
lead to its not being employed. Earlier workers compounded
according to the analogical method. After experience, they
found that it gave the best of what they had expected from
it so that they wrote it down and immortalized it in books.
This was done so that it should be an example for us in using
compound remedies according to the kind of need and the
satisfaction of self interest; the exception is in the com-
pounded ones for which the rules are known and also the
purpose. . . . I have proved by example some of what the
hands of experience have been bequeathed in turn, and eluci-
dated it from the force to the action. 39
3» T h e Medical Formulary of Al-Samarqandi

Chemistry in al-Samarqandfs
Aqrabadhin
For the student of thirteenth century Arabic chemistry,
this text is exceedingly rich in the names of botanical,
zoological, and mineralogical chemicals and their mix-
tures. Further, the pharmacological theory of the intro-
duction is in accord with the chemical theory of writers
on the structure of matter and how it reacts.
Although al-Samarqandi mentions the humoral idea
from time to time, the predominantly stressed considera-
tion in his pharmacotherapy is the therapeutic property
of a particular drug when it acts upon a bodily organ.
T h i s action was considered by the mediaeval Muslims as
a specific characteristic of a substance, and, in turn, of
the particles or atoms of which it is composed. These
properties were called the "accidents" of the atoms.
Essentially, there are two major theories or ideas of the
working of chemistry and of pharmacology; the first is
based on empirical data, and the second is humoral which
is but rarely employed before the fact b u t used post-
factum as a scholastic kind of interpretation.
T h i s method of the operation of Muslim chemistry and
the pharmacological sciences has escaped to a large extent
the observations of many students of these areas. One
source of confusion in the past has been that part of the
humoral theory is often confused with the hot, cold, dry,
and moist conditions found in actuality as, for example,
excessive perspiration, fever, and so on. Even though these
are almost always mere symptoms, they are still medically
treated in modern as in ancient times to reverse them
without the need of a humoral or any other theory. In
other words, no theory is considered necessary b u t it is
Introduction 39
simply an empirical normalizing operation. T h e same
held true for many chemical processes, both in and out
of al-Samarqandl.
An excellent example is in another text of the thir-
teenth century by an Iraqi, abü al-Qäsim η. ibn Ahmad
al- c Iräqi. 40 In a discussion of the prime matter upon which
the elixir is based, he writes:

. . . mercury mixes with copper and tinctures it, but lacks

permanency and power of completion. So that which we seek
is not to be found among the elementary minerals; hence the
substance must be a compound possessing the powers men-
tioned, and we examined the metallic chemicals suitable for
this purpose. We found no substance from which it was
proper to compound the elixir except gold, for gold is fusible,
stable, and perfecting, since the agent should be better than
all else in its power of completion . . . nor does it contain
excess of heat to heat the silver and fix it, and to give the
fire power to accelerate the reaction with it.
And so it is necessary that we should feed it with moisture
of its own kind united with dryness of its own kind, so that
when the hotness is increased in it, the food combines with
the gold, and the gold changes the food into its own essence;
and the gold is the cause of its permanence in the fire and
the food is the cause of its tinctorial power and purple color.
It becomes hot, dry, red, and easily fusible. When it is pro-
jected upon silver, it tinctures it. . . .

Abü al-Qäsim then goes on with a comparison of the

powers of plants and animals with metal. In fact, through-
out much of the book, this analogy is maintained a n d
expanded upon.
In the description above, it is obvious that the author
knows many facts about the chemicals with which he is
concerned. At the same time, all references to the humors
are completely uncorrelated with and irrelevant to the pri-
mary chemical reactions described. It is thus an "idea after
the fact" and not worthy of being called a theory since it
40 T h e Medical Formulary of Al-Samarqandï

cannot be used a priori for unknown chemical reactions.

T h i s procedure is carried out in al-Samarqandi's pharma-
cology with the reservation already mentioned of the prag-
matic aspects of hot, cold, dry, and moist.
How closely Arabic ideas in chemistry and medicine are
linked may be seen in another section of the same book.

It appears that these six metallic forms [i.e. gold, silver,

copper, iron, lead, and tin] are all of one species, distinguished
from one another only by different 'accidents'; their extreme
limit is reached when they become gold. Now that which is
free from any 'accident' is gold, while what possesses these
becomes either silver or the two leads, if it has the quality
of coldness, or copper, or iron, if it has the quality of hotness.
And these six species are similar merely to health and fever
in man. When the fever is treated so that it departs and the
man returns to freedom from disease, he regains the most
perfect state of health. 41

From this, it is seen that hotness and coldness are "acci-

dents" which are the chemical and physical properties of
a body, and so in turn are determined which of the six
metals it is to be.
Further, in this text and also implied in al-Samarqandi's
are the close relationships among chemistry, pharmacology,
and pharmacotherapy.
In chemistry, as in the compounding of materia medica,
analogical reasoning was often considered sufficient. Al-
Samarqandï describes its use in pharmacology as having
been originated by earlier workers in the field. Credit is
thus given to al-Samarqandi's predecessors for the experi-
ence they handed down.
W i t h the Arabs, the most common division of chemicals
was based upon their origins in the vegetable, animal, or
mineral kingdoms. By far, most of the chemicals and
simples used came from botanicals. T h e s e are fully de-
scribed in the notes to the translation. Materials of animal
Introduction 41
o r i g i n include the white and yolk of egg, castoreum, the
e x c r e m e n t of bats and mice, milk, sour milk, and mother's
m i l k , broth meat, honey and oxymels, fish, butter, the fat
of the camel's h u m p , duck, chicken, bees-wax, shell, am-
bergris, cheese water, and the gall of cows and birds.
T h e mineral materials, mostly of Persian origin, include
b u r n e d lead, b u r n e d copper, stibnite, ceruse, soda, borax,
haematite, scales of iron and copper, tutty, scoria of iron,
gold, and silver, D a r â n ï salt, d o u g h salt, naftï salt, I n d i a n
salt, malachite, red vitriol, arsenic, red arsenic, A r m e n i a n
bole, pitch, verdigris, vermilion, mercury, "sea c r a b " (an
I n d i a n stone), alum, Isfahan clay, potters' clay, sealing
clay, sulfur, lapis lazuli, litharge, marcasite, quicklime,
and a m m o n i u m chloride.
F r o m the three kingdoms, al-Samarqandï e m p l o y e d over
600 chemical materials whose properties were w e l l k n o w n
to him. T h i s implies an e n o r m o u s store of chemical
k n o w l e d g e w h e n it is considered that each of these had
to be prepared to the purest state possible and that purity
tests had to be devised for many of these to thwart the
f r e q u e n t substitutions c o m m o n in the pharmaceutical and
o t h e r trades of the time. 4 2

Muslim Materia Medica in

Contemporary Medicine
A t the time of the G o l d e n Period of the A r a b s , M u s l i m
medicine was recognized as the most f o r w a r d and pro-
gressive. A l t h o u g h formal medical practice at this time
was more widespread than it had ever been previously, it
was confined m a i n l y to the large cities of the N e a r East
and N o r t h Africa. M u c h of the evidence for this is at-
tested in works relating to the Crusades. 4 3
In spite of the advances of m o d e r n m e d i c i n e and its
42 T h e Medical Formulary of Al-Samarqandï
spread throughout much of the civilized world, it is still,
nevertheless, unknown to more than half of the global
population. T o many more in the Near East, it is inter-
mixed with native medicinal practises both subjective and
objective in nature.
T h e Aqräbädhin of al-Samarqandï makes use of many
simples which are found in use today in the native medi-
cine of India, Persia, and the Arab countries of Asia
and North Africa. These drugs are not only employed by
individuals as home remedies handed down from genera-
tion to generation. Rather, they are used on a much
larger scale in the well organized present-day Ayurvedic
system in India by Hindus, and also by the school of prac-
titioners, mainly Muslims, who use Avicenna's Canon as
their Bible of Medicine. T h e latter group is well de-
veloped in India and has a n u m b e r of large warehouses
at strategic locations. These store the raw material of the
botanical, zoological, and mineralogical simples found
in Muslim works. Large medical schools, as in the case
of allopathic medicine, are devoted to the teaching of the
Ayurvedic system and others to Avicenna's method. 4 4 T h e
latter is the major ingredient of Yunani medicine. "Yu-
nani" refers to the "Greek" medicine from which it is
assumed in India that Avicenna's method originated. 4 ·^
In order to better understand the two major native
Indian systems, one of the possible directions of investi-
gation is to assess the influence of ancient Arabic phar-
macology particularly in present day Arabic and Indian
pharmacology. Study of the Ayurvedic system and its in-
fluences, unfortunately, cannot be undertaken in the
present work. However, many hundreds of mediaeval Mus-
lim simples have f o u n d their way into modern native
Indian and other medicines. Some of these are described
below.
Introduction 43
Lavender (Lavandula Stoechas L.), native to the Medi-
terranean region, was known to the Arabs through the
description of Dioscorides who used it for the thorax and
in antidotes. In Muslim times, it was employed thera-
peutically for the chest. In India today, the juice expressed
from the leaves is used for cyanche. It is also used as a
carminative and resolvent. In modern Egypt, it is an anti-
spasmodic and stimulant. 46
Wormwood (Artemisia Absinthium L.) was known to
the Akkadian people for swellings, bruises, in clysters, for
fumigation, and as a stomachic. In India today, it is used
as a stomachic, as a deobstruant and antispasmodic. It is
also a stomachic in Persia and China.
Fleawort (Plantago Psyllium L.) grows in India, Bur-
ma, Sudan, and in the Himalayas. In India, it is used
for rattlesnake bites whereas in Egypt fleawort is em-
ployed as a d r u g for the kidney, urinary difficulties, and
for internal haemorrhoids. T h e Persians consider it effec-
tive for gonorrhoea and as a diuretic. T h e Chinese, at
present, approve of it as a diuretic and antirheumatic.
Another example, hemp (Cannabis sativa L.), is an
interesting simple. Today, it is indigenous in Persia,
Western and Central Asia, and almost all over India. In
Yunani medicine, it is known as a retentive, anaesthetic,
and astringent. In the Ayurvedic system, is is an aphro-
disiac with narcotic properties. It is also an anaesthetic in
China as well as a diuretic, emmenagogue, and anthel-
mintic. H e m p is used in Egypt today to excite one to
delirium.
In more advanced circles, Muslim pharmacology per-
sisted strongly in the West throughout the eighteenth cen-
tury as may be seen in the London Dispensatory and
similar works, and then into the early part of the nine-
teenth century. It is still known and used in Western
44 T h e Medical Formulary of Al-Samarqandl
Europe and the United States particularly in rural areas
in medicines based on home remedies.
Very frequently, a simple shows evidence that it has one
important therapeutic use common to the various con-
temporary civilizations in which it is found. For example,
wormwood is known mainly as a stomachic, gum am-
moniac as a resolvent under certain conditions, lavender
for chest conditions, fleawort for diuretic purposes,
maiden hair for tracheal mucus, and hemp as an anaes-
thetic.
T h i s common denominator which threads through the
present native medical practices of Egypt, India, Persia,
and Morocco (also Greece, Babylonia, and ancient Egypt
if these are to be considered), it appears, may be its signi-
ficant therapeutic property. On the other hand, in addi-
tion to this use common to various cultures, the drugs are
noted in the literature as having other widely varying
effects. T h i s may, in part, be attributed to the widespread
knowledge of the drug and its partial or chance effective-
ness in other directions; thus people are led to ascribe
various valuable attributes to it as they did with sociologi-
cal phenomena like the philosopher's stone, the universal
remedy, etc. Comparative study, therefore, of the uses of
ancient materia medica in widely different cultures, pres-
ent and past, assists in the determination of its best known,
and perhaps most useful and effective therapeutic virtues.
Because of their relative cheapness, many simples of
indigenous medical systems have a place in the pharmaco-
poeias of China, India, and other poor countries of the
Near East. It is the duty of Eastern and Western phar-
macologists to study this rich source of knowledge not
only as an aid to the people using these simples but also
for the unearthing of new products as part of a rational
system of medicine. 47
Introduction 45
Although the ancient use of these drugs was not based
on a scientific system as we know it today, it was, never-
theless, founded on empiricism. Many examples of mod-
ern, commonly known drugs which have been derived
from a knowledge of their ancient usages may come to
mind. One interesting example from the Chinese pharma-
copoeia which, by the way, had an influence upon Muslim
pharmacology, is that of the powdered heads of toad-fish
as a remedy for heart trouble. It has been found that there
are glands in the head of that fish which contain adrena-
lin. Another example is the nutritive value of liver. It is
said that the American Indians first ate the liver of an ani-
mal and that the white hunter, when sharing an animal,
always preferred the flesh.
Out of the large number of simples used by the Kavi-
rages and Hakims in the past and present, there may be
drugs which still deserve their old reputations. 48 In the
case of the Muslim simples, fortunately, a fairly large
body of manuscript material particularly on botanicals
and other drugs is still extant. Many of these never reached
the printed pages of early Western pharmacopoeias. It is,
therefore, of some importance, that these be identified and
thoroughly studied in the laboratories. Much of the in-
formation in the "Notes and Comments" after the tran-
lation, is given for this purpose.

Drugs in the Aqrabadhins of

al-Kin di and al-Samarqandi
About four centuries intervened between al-Kindi and
al-Samarqandî. It is known that al-Kindi practised in the
great Baghdad hospital of his day. Furthermore, although
al-Samarqandi was a native of northeast Persia, now a
locality within the borders of modern Afghanistan, he also
Another random document with
no related content on Scribd:
 foreigners writing in America, 510–12;
some American patrons of music, 512–13;
symphony orchestras, 513–4;
opera companies, 514;
twentieth century composers in, 545–6
University of California, open air theatre at, 469
V
Valkyrie, Wagner’s, 367, 368, 369, 371, 374, 375
Van der Stucken, Frank, 490
Varese, Edgar, 511
Vaudeville, origin of the word, 119–20
Venetian school of music, the, 155–7
Venice, first public opera house in, 185
Verdi, Giuseppe, account of his life and work, 377–81
Vielle, or hurdy-gurdy, the, 106
Vikings, the, 91
Viola, the, 216–17
Violin, makers of the, in Cremona, 14–17;
perfecting of the bow, 323;
the growth of violin music, 323–5
Violoncello, the, 216
Viols, of the Arabs, 60
Viotti, Giovanni Battista, 323
Virginal, the, 210, 310, 311
Virginals, in England in the 16th and 17th centuries, 195–6
Vitali, Giovanni Battista, 218
Vivaldi, 218
Volger, Abbé, 327, 328
W
Wagner, Wilhelm Richard, account of his life and work, 359–76;
influence of other musicians upon, 360–1;
first use of leit-motif by, 364;
The Flying Dutchman, 365;
Tannhäuser, 365–6, 370;
Lohengrin, 366, 368, 375;
The Nibelungen Ring, 364, 366 ff.;
Tristan and Isolde and The Meistersinger, 369–71, 372;
Bayreuth, 371–2, 373;
Parsifal, 372–3, 374;
his influence on opera, 374–6;
influence of, on Verdi, 377, 381;
followers of his theories in France, 389;
and Liszt, 405–6, 407, 408
Wagner, Siegfried, 395
Wallace, William Vincent, 341
Walther, Johann, 166
Washington, George, 464
Water organs, 309
Weber, Carl Maria von, 327–9, 333, 334;
influence of, on Wagner, 360
Weelkes, Thomas, 200, 201
Weingartner, Felix, 424
Wellesz, Egon, 533
Welsh folk music, 137–8
Wesley, Samuel, 340
Whiteman, Paul, 508
Whithorne, Emerson, 505
Whiting, Arthur, 482
Whitman, Walt, 474
Widor, Charles Marie, 392
Wieck, Clara, 352–3
Willaert, foundation of Venetian school of music by, 155–6
William the Conqueror, 93
William Tell, Rossini’s, 337
Williams, Vaughn, 543
Wolf, Hugo, 424–6
Wolfe, James, 380
Wolf-Ferrari, Ermanno, 385
Wolle, Frederick, 464
Wood, Sir Henry J., 318
Worde, Wynken de, song book of, 191
Y
Young People’s Concerts, New York, 470
Ysaye, Eugene, 434
Z
Zarlino, books on harmony and theory by, 157
Zither, use of, by the Arabs, 60
 TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES
1. Silently corrected obvious typographical errors and
variations in spelling.
2. Retained archaic, non-standard, and uncertain spellings
as printed.
3. The music files are the music transcriber’s interpretation
of the printed notation and are placed in the public
domain.
P. 78, Organum, Subsituted 1/2 note rest for
short bar line indicating break between sung
notes.
P. 78, Discant, missing slur and not whole note.
*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HOW MUSIC
GREW, FROM PREHISTORIC TIMES TO THE PRESENT DAY ***

Updated editions will replace the previous one—the old editions

will be renamed.

Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S.

copyright law means that no one owns a United States copyright
in these works, so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and
distribute it in the United States without permission and without
paying copyright royalties. Special rules, set forth in the General
Terms of Use part of this license, apply to copying and
distributing Project Gutenberg™ electronic works to protect the
PROJECT GUTENBERG™ concept and trademark. Project
Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if
you charge for an eBook, except by following the terms of the
trademark license, including paying royalties for use of the
Project Gutenberg trademark. If you do not charge anything for
copies of this eBook, complying with the trademark license is
very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose such
as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and
research. Project Gutenberg eBooks may be modified and
printed and given away—you may do practically ANYTHING in
the United States with eBooks not protected by U.S. copyright
law. Redistribution is subject to the trademark license, especially
commercial redistribution.

START: FULL LICENSE

THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE
 PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK

To protect the Project Gutenberg™ mission of promoting the

free distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this
work (or any other work associated in any way with the phrase
“Project Gutenberg”), you agree to comply with all the terms of
the Full Project Gutenberg™ License available with this file or
online at www.gutenberg.org/license.

Section 1. General Terms of Use and

Redistributing Project Gutenberg™
electronic works
1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg™
electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand,
agree to and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual
property (trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to
abide by all the terms of this agreement, you must cease using
and return or destroy all copies of Project Gutenberg™
electronic works in your possession. If you paid a fee for
obtaining a copy of or access to a Project Gutenberg™
electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the terms
of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or
entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8.

1.B. “Project Gutenberg” is a registered trademark. It may only

be used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by
people who agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement.
There are a few things that you can do with most Project
Gutenberg™ electronic works even without complying with the
full terms of this agreement. See paragraph 1.C below. There
are a lot of things you can do with Project Gutenberg™
electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement and
help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg™
electronic works. See paragraph 1.E below.
1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation (“the
Foundation” or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the
collection of Project Gutenberg™ electronic works. Nearly all the
individual works in the collection are in the public domain in the
United States. If an individual work is unprotected by copyright
law in the United States and you are located in the United
States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from copying,
distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative works
based on the work as long as all references to Project
Gutenberg are removed. Of course, we hope that you will
support the Project Gutenberg™ mission of promoting free
access to electronic works by freely sharing Project
Gutenberg™ works in compliance with the terms of this
agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg™ name
associated with the work. You can easily comply with the terms
of this agreement by keeping this work in the same format with
its attached full Project Gutenberg™ License when you share it
without charge with others.

1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also
govern what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most
countries are in a constant state of change. If you are outside
the United States, check the laws of your country in addition to
the terms of this agreement before downloading, copying,
displaying, performing, distributing or creating derivative works
based on this work or any other Project Gutenberg™ work. The
Foundation makes no representations concerning the copyright
status of any work in any country other than the United States.

1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project

Gutenberg:

1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other

immediate access to, the full Project Gutenberg™ License must
appear prominently whenever any copy of a Project
Gutenberg™ work (any work on which the phrase “Project
Gutenberg” appears, or with which the phrase “Project
Gutenberg” is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed,
viewed, copied or distributed:

This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United

States and most other parts of the world at no cost and with
almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it
away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg
License included with this eBook or online at
www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United
States, you will have to check the laws of the country where
you are located before using this eBook.

1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg™ electronic work is

derived from texts not protected by U.S. copyright law (does not
contain a notice indicating that it is posted with permission of the
copyright holder), the work can be copied and distributed to
anyone in the United States without paying any fees or charges.
If you are redistributing or providing access to a work with the
phrase “Project Gutenberg” associated with or appearing on the
work, you must comply either with the requirements of
paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use
of the work and the Project Gutenberg™ trademark as set forth
in paragraphs 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.

1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg™ electronic work is

posted with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and
distribution must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through
1.E.7 and any additional terms imposed by the copyright holder.
Additional terms will be linked to the Project Gutenberg™
License for all works posted with the permission of the copyright
holder found at the beginning of this work.

1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project

Gutenberg™ License terms from this work, or any files
containing a part of this work or any other work associated with
Project Gutenberg™.
 1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute
this electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without
prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1
with active links or immediate access to the full terms of the
Project Gutenberg™ License.

1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary,
compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form,
including any word processing or hypertext form. However, if
you provide access to or distribute copies of a Project
Gutenberg™ work in a format other than “Plain Vanilla ASCII” or
other format used in the official version posted on the official
Project Gutenberg™ website (www.gutenberg.org), you must, at
no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a copy, a
means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon
request, of the work in its original “Plain Vanilla ASCII” or other
form. Any alternate format must include the full Project
Gutenberg™ License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1.

1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying,

performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg™
works unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.

1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or

providing access to or distributing Project Gutenberg™
electronic works provided that:

• You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from
the use of Project Gutenberg™ works calculated using the
method you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The
fee is owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg™ trademark,
but he has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to
the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty
payments must be paid within 60 days following each date on
which you prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your
periodic tax returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked
as such and sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive
Foundation at the address specified in Section 4, “Information
 about donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive
Foundation.”

• You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who

notifies you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that
s/he does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg™
License. You must require such a user to return or destroy all
copies of the works possessed in a physical medium and
discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of Project
Gutenberg™ works.

• You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of

any money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in
the electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90
days of receipt of the work.

• You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free
distribution of Project Gutenberg™ works.

1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project

Gutenberg™ electronic work or group of works on different
terms than are set forth in this agreement, you must obtain
permission in writing from the Project Gutenberg Literary
Archive Foundation, the manager of the Project Gutenberg™
trademark. Contact the Foundation as set forth in Section 3
below.

1.F.

1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend

considerable effort to identify, do copyright research on,
transcribe and proofread works not protected by U.S. copyright
law in creating the Project Gutenberg™ collection. Despite
these efforts, Project Gutenberg™ electronic works, and the
medium on which they may be stored, may contain “Defects,”
such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or corrupt
data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual
property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other
medium, a computer virus, or computer codes that damage or
cannot be read by your equipment.

1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES -

Except for the “Right of Replacement or Refund” described in
paragraph 1.F.3, the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive
Foundation, the owner of the Project Gutenberg™ trademark,
and any other party distributing a Project Gutenberg™ electronic
work under this agreement, disclaim all liability to you for
damages, costs and expenses, including legal fees. YOU
AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE,
STRICT LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH
OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH
1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE
TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER
THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE LIABLE TO YOU FOR
ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE
OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF
THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.

1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If

you discover a defect in this electronic work within 90 days of
receiving it, you can receive a refund of the money (if any) you
paid for it by sending a written explanation to the person you
received the work from. If you received the work on a physical
medium, you must return the medium with your written
explanation. The person or entity that provided you with the
defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu
of a refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or
entity providing it to you may choose to give you a second
opportunity to receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund.
If the second copy is also defective, you may demand a refund
in writing without further opportunities to fix the problem.

1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set

forth in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you ‘AS-IS’,
WITH NO OTHER WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS
OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO
WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR
ANY PURPOSE.

1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied

warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of
damages. If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this
agreement violates the law of the state applicable to this
agreement, the agreement shall be interpreted to make the
maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by the applicable
state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any provision of
this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions.

1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the

Foundation, the trademark owner, any agent or employee of the
Foundation, anyone providing copies of Project Gutenberg™
electronic works in accordance with this agreement, and any
volunteers associated with the production, promotion and
distribution of Project Gutenberg™ electronic works, harmless
from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, that
arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do
or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project
Gutenberg™ work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or
deletions to any Project Gutenberg™ work, and (c) any Defect
you cause.

Section 2. Information about the Mission of

Project Gutenberg™
Project Gutenberg™ is synonymous with the free distribution of
electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of
computers including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new
computers. It exists because of the efforts of hundreds of
volunteers and donations from people in all walks of life.

Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the

assistance they need are critical to reaching Project
Gutenberg™’s goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg™
collection will remain freely available for generations to come. In
2001, the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was
created to provide a secure and permanent future for Project
Gutenberg™ and future generations. To learn more about the
Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and how your
efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 and the
Foundation information page at www.gutenberg.org.

Section 3. Information about the Project

Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation
The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non-
profit 501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the
laws of the state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by
the Internal Revenue Service. The Foundation’s EIN or federal
tax identification number is 64-6221541. Contributions to the
Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation are tax
deductible to the full extent permitted by U.S. federal laws and
your state’s laws.

The Foundation’s business office is located at 809 North 1500

West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887. Email contact
links and up to date contact information can be found at the
Foundation’s website and official page at
www.gutenberg.org/contact

Section 4. Information about Donations to

the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive
Foundation
Project Gutenberg™ depends upon and cannot survive without
widespread public support and donations to carry out its mission
of increasing the number of public domain and licensed works
that can be freely distributed in machine-readable form
accessible by the widest array of equipment including outdated
equipment. Many small donations ($1 to $5,000) are particularly
important to maintaining tax exempt status with the IRS.

The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws

regulating charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of
the United States. Compliance requirements are not uniform
and it takes a considerable effort, much paperwork and many
fees to meet and keep up with these requirements. We do not
solicit donations in locations where we have not received written
confirmation of compliance. To SEND DONATIONS or
determine the status of compliance for any particular state visit
www.gutenberg.org/donate.

While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states

where we have not met the solicitation requirements, we know
of no prohibition against accepting unsolicited donations from
donors in such states who approach us with offers to donate.

International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot

make any statements concerning tax treatment of donations
received from outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp
our small staff.

Please check the Project Gutenberg web pages for current

donation methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a
number of other ways including checks, online payments and
credit card donations. To donate, please visit:
www.gutenberg.org/donate.

Section 5. General Information About Project

Gutenberg™ electronic works
Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project
Gutenberg™ concept of a library of electronic works that could
be freely shared with anyone. For forty years, he produced and
distributed Project Gutenberg™ eBooks with only a loose
network of volunteer support.

Project Gutenberg™ eBooks are often created from several

printed editions, all of which are confirmed as not protected by
copyright in the U.S. unless a copyright notice is included. Thus,
we do not necessarily keep eBooks in compliance with any
particular paper edition.

Most people start at our website which has the main PG search
facility: www.gutenberg.org.

This website includes information about Project Gutenberg™,

including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg
Literary Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new
eBooks, and how to subscribe to our email newsletter to hear
about new eBooks.
back
back
back