Ophthalmology
Ophthalmology
by Aileen R. Das
Doctors working in the medieval Islamicate world engaged critically with the material concerning ophthalmology that was inherited from Graeco-Roman antiquity. This field of medicine was called kuḥl in Arabic...
This field of medicine was called kuḥl in Arabic – a term originally designating an eye-salve or cosmetic composed of an antimony sulphide (‘Kuḥl’ in eds Bearman et al. 2015). Most medical compilations written in the medieval period cover diseases from head to toe, and so include chapters on eye disorders and their remedies; however, the most comprehensive treatment of this subject was to be found in monographs by ophthalmological specialists, namely kaḥḥālūn (a word deriving from the same root as kuḥl). These oculists, some of whom may have been employed in a hospital context, distinguished themselves from a class of lay practitioners and cataract couchers (qaddāḥūn), whom they accused of being illiterate and poorly trained. Documents from the Genizah, a storage area in a Cairo synagogue from which a great number of firsthand material has been recovered, mention female oculists (kaḥḥālāt); one such woman is described as receiving alms, indicating that she likely belonged to a lower strata of society (Pormann/Savage-Smith 2007, 104). It is unclear whether these female oculists had access to or were aware of the ophthalmological treatises produced by their educated, male counterparts...
Left: The anatomy of the eye and its muscles. From the Ten Treatises on the Eye (Al-ʿAshr maqālāt fī l-ʿayn) by the famous 9th-century translator Ḥunayn ibn Isḥāq. The book is arguably the most influential work on ophthalmology in the Middle Ages.
Medieval ophthalmological manuals, such as those mentioned above, frequently prescribe wet and dry collyria (Arabic, kuḥl or šiyāf) for the treatment of various eye disorders. Both types of collyria were stored as tablets; the dry form of the drug was ground and blown directly into the eye, whereas the wet kind was softened with water before application. In his Ten Treatises on the Eye, Ḥunayn recommends the use of rainwater for the preparation of wet collyria on account of its purity, and he instructs the reader to add it to the ground tablet until the medicine acquires the consistency of pigeon dung (Meyerhof 1928, p. 129, ll. 14–25 (English translation), p. 196, ll. 8–14 (Arabic text)). Some of the ingredients listed in wet collyria recipes include wine, honey, balsam oil, fennel juice, and asafoetida. Animal products were also utilised for different ophthalmic drugs. For example, on the authority of Paul of Aegina (fl. c. 630), Ḥunayn and other Arabic medical writers advise patients suffering from night-blindness (aʿšā) to eat roasted goat-liver and to bathe their eyes in the bloody roasting juices (Meyerhof 1928, p. 121, l. 1–4 (English translation), p. 189, ll. 1–2 (Arabic text); see also Pormann 2004, 193–5). Furthermore, while the liver is roasting, the attending doctor should order the patient to open their eyes so that the smoke from the cooking offal may enter them...
Right: Doctors working in the medieval Islamicate world engaged critically with the material concerning ophthalmology that was inherited from Graeco- Roman antiquity. This field of medicine was called kuḥl in Arabi. This 13th century manuscript dipicts instruments for eye surgery as displayed in a copy of al-Ḥalabī’s Sufficient Book on Ophthalmology (al-Kāfī fī l-kuḥl).
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"Ophthalmology" by Aileen R. Das
~ Chapter Ten, Pages 104-111 ~
~ Chapter Ten, Pages 104-111 ~
1001 Cures Book tells the fascinating story of how generations of physicians from different countries and creeds created a medical tradition admired by friend and foe. It influences the fates and fortunes of countless human beings, both East and West.