§ XXIX.

THE WORKS OF EBN ZOHAR.

"In order to arrive at a profound knowledge of medicine," says Ebn Roschid, somewhere, "it is necessary to read carefully the works of Ebn Zohar, which are the real treasure of the art. He knew all that is permitted to man to know on these subjects, and we are indebted to his family for the true science of medicine." Among these works we will first refer to the book entitled Teissir, in which he points out the remedies and regimen adapted to a majority of diseases, next a Treatise on the Cure of Diseases, and two Treatises on Fevers. The first which he prepared for his master, prince Joseph Tachefyn, is found in manuscript in the Royal Library of Paris, and the Bodlein Library. In it is found a great number of anecdotes of his life. It has been translated from the Arabic into the Hebrew, and from this last language into the Latin. The second, which he dedicated to Ibrahim, son of Joseph ben Tache fyn, has likewise been translated into Hebrew. The two last were translated into Latin, and printed at Venice in 1570.

These books, particularly the Teissir, are full of researches as interesting as they are instructive and curious. Ebn Zohar has distinguished with great accuracy the laxatives and purgatives, and he has almost entirely rejected them from use. His principles very often differ from those of Galen, as Sprengel very well remarks.*

His ideas on the cause which preserves life, and the regular mixture of the humours, notwithstanding their tendency to putrefaction, are so much the more deserving of attention, as in this respect they appear to have laid down the path for the celebrated Stahl. He reports an interesting case of a cure of phthisis, effected by his grandfather, by means of the sugar of roses alone.

* Versuch einer pragmatischen Geschichte der Arzneikunde, t. II, p. 437.

The use of the bezoar* cured the high constable of the caliph of Seville, of a jaundice, the consequence of poisoning. He describes phthisis, produced by ulceration of the stomach, as a new disease. The case which he has reported of a disease caused by a tumor of the stomach, is truly remarkable. He studied, and it is a fact of great importance, inflammation of the mediastinum, with which he himself had been attacked. We cannot too highly value his remarks upon inflammation of the pericardium, and upon angina, produced by paralysis of the æsophagus. He proposed to treat this last affection with gargles introduced through a long tube. We also read with pleasure, his observations upon an aphonia caused by schirrous enlargement of the tongue, and upon the little danger attending the entire loss of the womb from suppuration of this organ. He has very correct ideas on the influence exerted by marsh exhalations over health. We note as a remarkable fact, that he bled his own son only three years of age, with complete success.

sons.

* The bezoar, or morbid concretion formed generally in the stomachs and intestines of animals, possessed at one time a great reputation as an antidote to poiThe most esteemed among the Oriental bezoars were obtained from the stomach of the goat and gazelle. These substances were worn as ornaments, and much esteemed, but are of no value in resisting poison, as was proved by the experiment made by Ambrose Parè, at the command of Charles IX, on a criminal, to whom he had given corrosive sublimate. The general impression of its value is beautifully alluded to by a modern poet.

"That miraculous gem, the

gem that gave

A sign infallible of coming ill,

That clouded, through the vehicle of death,
Were an invisible perfume."

ROGERS' Italy, part I.

§ XXX.

ABEN ESRA,

ALTHOUGH the prohibition anciently made against Christians consulting Jewish physicians in cases of disease, had been renewed in Christian Spain, the king of Leon had, nevertheless, in defiance of it, at the beginning of this period, an Israelite physician, to whom he granted his whole confidence. It was to this doctor, that even the estates of the kingdom addressed themselves to use his influence with the king to dissuade him from an alliance with Arragon. No one who knew the impetuous character of the prince dared to address him on this subject-the Hebrew doctor alone made known to him the wishes of the nation.

Aben Omar ben Kamenil, was a very distinguished Spanish physician of that period, and has been celebrated by Mousa-ben Esra de Grenada;* but his glory soon faded before that of Aben Esra.

Abraham ben Meir Aben Esra, was born at Toledo in the year 1092, of one of the most learned Jewish families of Spain. Nature had gifted him with a vast genius, which grasped almost all the sciences.t

He was versed in philosophy, astronomy, mathematics, medicine, grammar, and poetry. He delighted very much in travelling, and passed most of his life in that way. After having traversed France, Italy, Greece, Palestine, Syria and Persia, he returned to India, where he was made prisoner. Having escaped this danger, he returned to Europe, visited England and other countries, and what is very extraordinary, he composed his principal works during these expeditions.

For a long period the reputation of the writings of this great man has been established. We notice among them an unpublished work upon Theoretical and Practical Medicine, divided

into nine parts. This work, which appears to have been composed in Arabic, is found in the Hebrew tongue, with other medical manuscripts, in the Royal Library of Paris, ancien fonds, No. 381. It is entitled Sefer ha Nisionot, book of proofs, because the author only treats of remedies which have been tried and approved. We should not confound this writing with a treatise on Judicial Astrology, which bears the same name, and is found in MSS. in the library of Oppenheimer, at Oxford.*

With regard to the period of the death of our Aben Esra, so contradictorily reported by his biographers, behold what we have read at the end of his Commentary on the Pentateuch, an old MSS. in the Royal Library of Paris.† On Monday the first day of the month, Adar, in the year 4927, (February, 1167,) the wise master, Abraham Aben Esra, died. He was about sixtyfive years of age, but when he perceived the approach of death, he composed for himself an epitaph, in which he took for a text, a part of the fourth verse of the xii. chap. of Genesis. Abraham was sixty and five years of age when he departed from Haran, as much to make an allusion to his own age as to give another sense to the word mè Haran, of Haran.

He changed it into mè Haran, and added to it the word af, which signifies full of grief; as much as to say, he, Abraham, was sixty and five years of age, when he left this sad and miserable world.

§ XXXI.

ABEN TYBBON KIMCHI.

The fall of the Ommiades, and the wars between the Mohammedans and the Christians, drove many of the learned Jews of Spain into the middle provinces of France, where they carried

* See the Catalogue edition of 1785, 4to. p. 14; and edition of 1826, 8vo. p. 404, No. 1175,

Hebrew MSS. ancien fonds, No. 99.

their science and knowledge into the Jewish schools, which were already distinguished. We place at the head of these learned emigrants, Jehuda Aben Tybbon and Joseph ben Kimchi.

Jehuda ben Saül Aben Tybbon, was born at Grenada, or as this city is called in the Hebrew, Rimon. He has, received the merited title of Abi ha Maatikim, the father of interpreters, from his ability in translating the Arabic writings into Hebrew. He translated, very satisfactorily, the works on Grammar, of Eben Djanah, the philosophic books of Saadia Gaon and Jehuda ha-Lewy, the moral writings of Solomon ben-Gabirol and of Bechai ben-Joseph.

These excellent translations were made at Lune!, where this learned man lived in retirement, and where he still lived as late as 1199, the period at which he finished the work of Bechai. He was himself the author of various works, among which we notice two literary epistles, the manuscripts of which, are found in our library.

One of these entitled Igheret ha-Musar, addressed to his son Samuel, who was also a physician, and of whom we shall speak again, contains many particulars on the condition of medicine. Among other things, he recommended one day in each week to be devoted to the study of pharmacy, to study botany thoroughly, and to make use of no remedy of whose virtue he was not well acquainted. From which it resulted, that at that period, in France, the physician was likewise a pharmaceutist, as was the practice then, and still is among the Arabs.

Benjamin of Tudela, makes mention of our physician in the first chapter of his voyages, also of Joseph ben-Isaac ben-Kimchi, who was established at Narbonne, when this traveller visited that place about the year 1160. He was like his countryman Aben Tybbon, (a translator and physician,) who quotes him in the preface of his translation of the book of Bechai. Joseph Kimchi is better known as a poet, grammarian and commentator, than as a translator and physician. He has written numerous works upon various subjects, but none of them up to our day, have been honored by being printed. We would cite as the most remarka