A white page with elegant black and gold Arabic lettering. No text translation is available. (700KB)

This page has Arabic text written in black and red. No text translation is available. (730 KB)

This manuscript contains a statement attesting to a student having read and mastered a medical treatise. This certificate is written at the end of a commentary on the Hippocrate treatise "On the Nature of Man" by a Damascene physician, in his own handwriting and dated 25 January 1270. [NLM MS A69, fol. 67b]

The final page of "The Comprehensive Book on Medicine", with the colophon in which the unnamed scribe gives the date he completed the copy as Friday, 30 November 1094. This is the oldest volume in NLM and the third oldest Arabic medical manuscipt known to be preserved today. The part of the treatise owned by NLM contains the section on gastrointestinal complaints. [NLM MS A17, p. 463]

An illuminated opening from the alchemical treatise "The Proof Regarding Secrets of the Science of the Balance". Undated copy made in Morocco in the late 19th century. This work is concerned to a large extent with the classification of plants, animals, and minerals, and with the alchemist concept of 'balance'. [NLM MS A7, part 1, fols. 1b-2a]

The notable feature of this Arabic manuscript is the three clusters of concentric circles joined by lines. No text translation is currently available.

"The Complete Book of the Medical Art." Copy finished on 15 May 1208. One of the most comprehensive and well-organized compendia in early medical literature. The author, who practiced medicine in Baghdad, criticized "The Comprehensive Book on Medicine" as being too long (the modern printed version is 23 volumes) and not well organized. "The Complete Book" was divided into two large books, one on theoretical principles and the other on practical aspects. [NLM MS A26.1, fol. 33a, open to the chapter on the eye condition pterygium]

The illuminated opening of the Arabic treatise on Paracelsian medicine, "The Culmination of Perfection in the Treatment of the Human Body," written in the 17th century. This is a provincial Ottoman copy finished 26 October 1749. [NLM MS A13, fol. 5b]

An ornate and delicate color drawing of Middle Eastern ladies and their servants.

One of three pages with distinctive borders, this is a drawing of two royals is a swing, attended by servants.

Woman, with attendant, reviving an elderly man. Ink drawing, highlighted with gilt and watercolors, signed by an artist Shaykh Muhammad. One of several illustrations accompanying anonymous poetry following a Persian text on sexual hygiene. Undated. Possibly 18th centry India, possibly Kashmir. [NLM MS P24, vol. 18b]

Color ink drawing of a fanciful bird.

Illuminated opening of "The Storehouse of Medicaments Concerning the Explanation of Materia Medica" (18th century, India).

Copy of "The Storehouse of Medicaments Concerning the Explanation of Materia Media" finshed 3 May 1732. [NLM MS P12]

The illuminated opening of the 4th book of "The Canon of Medicine" by Avicenna. From a rare complete copy made in Iran probably at the beginning of the 15th century. [NLM MS A53, vol. 368b]

Color ink drawing of three animals, possibly a dog, a large cat, and an elephant.

"The Result of Thinking about the Cure of Eye Diseases." Written in Cairo. Copy finished by unnamed scribe on 16 November 1501, page from the chapter on pannus. [NLM MS A48, fols. 7b-8a]

No text translation is currently available.

Two pages of elegant script, each with an inked botanical decoration.

No description currently available.