Medieval Recipes by Al-Zahrāwī for Heart Palpitations Treatment

Authors: Arvide Cambra LM

DOI: 10.23880/apct-16000255

Volume 10, Issue 1

Abstract

The Kitāb al-Taṣrīf (Book of medical arrangement) is the masterpiece of the distinguished Cordovan physician Abū l-Qāsim Khalaf Ibn ‘Abbās Al-Zahrāwī (c.936-c.1013), known among other names as Abulcasis. This book exemplifies the high level achieved by Arab science in the Middle Ages, and for this important reason it is essential to study its pages in order to make them known to researchers and academics in other areas of scientific knowledge. Its author, Abulcasis Al-Zahrāwī, was also an eminent surgeon, the first of Medieval Islam, and his influence reached as far as Renaissance Europe. The 9th treatise of his work is an interesting medieval treatise of cardiology and neurology, including the correct treatment of some of their most common ailments and diseases. It contains recipes of great value to the fields of pharmacology, cardiology and neurology. This paper is an approach to this treatise, and includes the translation to English from some of its fragments referring to recipes of remedies that are beneficial for heart palpitations treatment, according to the 502nd Arabic manuscript of the Süleymaniye Umumi Kütüphanesi from Istanbul, and the 137th manuscript of the Ṭibb Taymūr collection from the Egyptian National Library and Archives (Dār al-Kutub al-Miṣriyya) in Cairo.

Keywords: Abulcasis Al-Zahrāwī; Medieval Arab Medicine; Medieval Arab Pharmacology; Cardiology; Neurology; Kitāb al-Taṣrīf

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