The Kaḥḥāl, ʻAlī ibn ʻĪsá, died 1038 or 1039 Author text text xx monographic place of publication not identified] [publisher not identified] 1631 ara

electronic resource

remote

computer

online resource

1 online resource. The current manuscript preserves Tadhkirat al-kaḥḥālīn (The notebook of the oculists), a landmark treatise in ophthalmology that is often cited as one of the most important works of its kind in medieval Islam. The author was ʻAli ibn ʻIsa al-Kahhal (died circa 1038), who lived in Baghdad and practiced and taught in the 'Adudi Bimaristan hospital. Known in the Latin West as Jesu Oculist, al-Kahhal described in detail more than 130 eye diseases in this well-organized work. He classified the diseases by their anatomical location, drawing upon earlier Greco-Roman and Arab sources, but also adding "a few things" that he observed or practiced. The manuscript is divided into three main "essays," each of which is further divided into numerous sections that provide clear and succinct descriptions of the subject matter. The first essay, comprising 21 sections, deals with the anatomy of the eye. The second essay, covering 73 sections, discusses the causes, symptoms, and treatments of apparent eye diseases. The third essay, consisting of 27 sections, covers the less apparent eye diseases and their treatment. The work concludes with an alphabetical glossary of remedies for eye ailments. Al-Kahhal is credited with a number of firsts, including the prescription in the literature of an anesthetic for surgery; and the discovery of the symptoms of the Vogt-Koyanagi-Harada syndrome, which include inflammation of the eye and loss of vision. His Tadhkirat influenced numerous Arab and European oculists. It was translated into Latin in the 15th century. A German translation with commentary by ophthalmologist Julius Hirschberg and orientalist Julius Lippert was published in 1904. It was this version on which Casey Wood based his 1936 English translation, describing the Tadhkirat as "the most complete, practical and original of all the early textbooks on the eye and its diseases." The manuscript of the Tadhkirat presented here was produced in 1631. The name of the scribe is unknown. Title devised, in English, by Library staff. Original resource extent: 68 folios ; 16 x 21 centimeters. Original resource at: Qatar National Library. Content in Arabic. Description based on data extracted from World Digital Library, which may be extracted from partner institutions. 950 to 1030 Anatomy Arabic manuscripts Diseases Eye Medicine, Arab Ophthalmology Iraq Baghdad Baghdad 610 956 https://hdl.loc.gov/loc.wdl/wdl.17604 2021667380 DLC 210525 20250607105729.2 22057432 Converted from MARCXML to MODS version 3.8 using MARC21slim2MODS3-8_XSLT1-0.xsl (Revision 1.172 20230208) eng