Medicine Dietetics and Pharmacology - Food Culture and Health in Pre-Modern Islamic Societies - page 233

also of al-Idrīsī (d. 560/1166). In his Book
of Simple Drugs he contributes a vast mate-
rial of synonyms in many languages.
In a vast encyclopaedia, al- ⁄ āmi
li-Mufradāt al-Adwiya wa'l-A ∞£ iya , Ibn
al-Bayār (d. 646/1248) put together
all information available to him, quot-
ing about 150 previous authors from
Dioscorides to his own teacher, Abu'l-
Abbās al-Nabātī, whose Rila , or “Botan-
ical Journey”, he often quotes. Most of
these works Ibn al-Bayār certainly knew
from secondary sources, al- fi afiī above
all. In 2324 articles the ⁄ āmi treats of
about 1400 different drugs and plants, 400
of which were not known to the Greeks.
To these works, written in the West,
containing descriptions of the drugs and
directions for their use, may be added
also a number of others, containing lists
of synonyms written in order to explain
the meaning of the different names given
to simples and drugs. Such are e.g. the
· ar Asmā al-Uār of the famous Jewish
theologian, philosopher and physician
Mūsā b. Maymūn (Maimonides, A.D.
1135-1204), treating especially of the
names current in Morocco and written
probably in the 18th century.

or go bad, and which do not, and what
means there are for their preservation
or reconstitution. Finally, he must know
the mixing of drafts and potions, powders
and spices” (al-Dima ª ī, Kitāb al-I ª āra
ilā Maāsin al-Ti ¡ āra ). Today the term
also sometimes includes dyers and dye-
merchants, although the perfume mer-
chants are the noblest and wealthiest of
the aārūn . As in the Middle Ages, herbal
remedies—that is to say, the greater
part of the medicines offered—are still
sold dry (i.e., roots and wood chopped
small; herbs, leaves, and flowers whole or
crushed; and fruit or seed just dried). The
containers were generally provided by the
bazaar druggist. The plants and animals
which a druggist used, and the methods of
obtaining his raw materials, are particu-
larly vividly presented in an illuminated
Persian Dioscorides-manuscript written in
the year 867/1463. Medicines were usu-
ally given in simple form ( adwiya mufrada,
Simplicia ), but they were sometimes com-
pounded ( adwiya murakkaba, Composita ) by
the aār in the presence of the patient,
who, if need be, was given a dose right
away.
The professional knowledge of the
bazaar druggist is usually scanty, and his
medicines are often completely spoilt by
storage under unsuitable conditions for
excessive periods. Druggists have always
been known for their cheating in mea-
sures and general quackery, as is attested
to both by specialised works on fraudulent
practices, (such as Kitāb al-Mu ¶ tār fī Ka ª f
al-Asrār wa-Hatk al-Astār of ⁄ awbarī (7th
century A.H.), which is still much read in
the Orient) and by treatises on the duties
of a market superviser ( mutasib ). M. Mey-
erhof reports, for instance, how French
perfumes are diluted and tampered with
in the bazaar, bottled in oriental flasks,
and then sold to the Europeans as genu-
ine oriental scent and to the local inhab-
itants as improved Parisian products.

(B. Lewin)

Druggist

Al-Aār (Ar.), like al-aydalānī , primarily
meant a perfume merchant or druggist;
but as most scents ( ir , pl. uūr ) and drugs
(usually aār , pl. aāīr ) were credited
with some healing properties, aār also
came to mean chemist and homoeopath
( mutaabbib ). His activities combine com-
merce with science and medicine. He
has to know “the diverse drugs, curatives,
drafts and scents, their good and bad
varieties, as well as what is fraudulent; he
must know which things change quickly