Fatima Saadatmand
ABSTRACT
A Historical Survey: “Arithmetic” in the Service of Medieval Medicine in the Islamic Era (9th -13th AD)
Fatima Saadatmand
History of Science Institute - University of Tehran
Arithmetic in the Arabic world was introduced with the loanword Ariṯmāṭῑqῑ which is derived from the Greek word arithmos meaning “number”, and depending on the context, it is used in two quite distinct senses. In the first sense, arithmetic as a technical term refers to a branch of mathematics that deals with the theory of numbers, numerical computations, and calculations, which is known as ‘Ilm al-ḥisāb from the Islamic era onwards; And in the second sense, arithmetic deals with magical matters, talismans, or even some mystical traditions based on numbers and ABJAD letters which could be generally supposed to be used for superstitious purposes.
The period from the 9th to the 13th century is well-known as “The Islamic Golden Age” in which works in science and medicine flourished. During this time, knowledge was synthesized from works originating in ancient Mesopotamia, Ancient Greece, Ancient Rome, Ancient Egypt, North Africa, Persia, India, China, and Byzantine civilizations and the most remarkable treatises on the subject of medicine, specifically in pharmacology and apothecary were published by Arabs and non-Arabs in Muslim-ruled areas enriched by both preserving earlier traditions and enhancing extra experiences and findings of their own. On the other hand, the natural and cultural resources, as well as trade relations, had contributed greatly to the spread of these scientific works.
Now, it may be questionable, how these two completely distinct disciplines, arithmetic (in both senses) and medicine converge?! The purpose of this study is to investigate the relations between these two filed by examining the significant sources, treatises, ancient texts as well as by introducing notable scientists, physicians, mathematicians in the guise of a physician and polymaths who have written a treatise, monograph or even who collected an encyclopedia and were accomplished in numerous fields of endeavor and inquiry that had writings on both medicine and mathematics besides other fields of study like physics and philosophy. The present research intends to have a short review on textbooks provided by physicians in math but with a remarkable medical approach, on topics for example including weights and quantities required in posology (the study of dosages) observed as a sample in al-Kindῑ’s1 pharmaceutical work by the title “Risālah fī ma˓rifat qūwah al-adwīyah al-murakkabah”, where he based the efficacy (qūwah) of compound medicine upon geometrical progression; or what Avicenna described and formulated of dispensing of medical material in his far-famed medical work al-Qānūn fi al-Ṭibb (The Canon of Medicine). Pharmaceutical works are typically about materia medica (a Latin term for medical substances from work of Dioscorides: De materia medica), singular medicine, their specifications, and some others are mainly about compound medicine (Greek term: graphidion) which we aim to explain more.
Ariṯmāṭῑqῑ in term of occult (Arabic term: Xafῑya) considered as a sort of supernatural belief recommended and used widely by especially non-academic practitioners in diseases' cures outside the scope of science, which leads us to spot the use of magic squares and their applications in medicine as a way of assumed treatment.
Ibn Sīnā. al-Qānūn fi al-Ṭibb (The Canon of Medicine). Cairo: Bulaq Edition, 1877, Reprinted by Dar Sadir.
2. Kahl, Oliver. Sābūr Ibn Sahl’s Dispensatory in the Recension of the ʻAḍudī Hospital. BRILL, 2009.
3. Meyerhof, Max. "'Alî at-Tabarî's Paradise of Wisdom, one of the oldest Arabic Compendiums of Medicine". Isis. 1931, 16 (1): 654. doi:10.1086/346582. JSTOR 224348.
4. Selin, Helaine. Encyclopedia of the History of Science, Technology, and Medicine in Non-Western Cultures. Springer Science & Business Media, 2008.
BIO
Fatima Saadatmand was educated in the history of mathematics at the Institute for the History of Science-University of Tehran, Iran. Her MA thesis was a corpus-based study in the history of arithmetic: a comprehensive arithmetic lexicon built on numerous Persian treatises in 'Ilm al-ḥisāb (arithmetic) from the 10th to the 18th Century AD. Considering a wide range of arithmetic treatises that belong to various geographical areas and extracting extensive evidence, distinct entries along with diverse senses, the results of the study are much more than presenting a dictionary of arithmetic technical terms, and it leads to providing good knowledge of different Arithmetic traditions throughout the Islamic age. Currently, as a MA researcher, she studies and examines arithmetical manuscripts in both Arabic and Persian which have been written in the Islamic period to reveal the connection among the sources (mostly unpublished and some anonymous), the intersection of old texts as well as their relation to other fields of science, such as medicine and pharmacology with a source criticism approach.