The work of translation was kept up with unremitting zeal until the middle of the ninth century (reigns of El Ouatocq and of Moutaouakkel).

Among the physicians who received their training at the Djondisabour medical school the Bakhtichous were not the only ones who attained considerable distinction. John Mesué the Elder,[50] for example, who was a Nestorian Christian and the son of an apothecary, became more famous than any member of that family. He not only did his full share of the translating, but he was also a prolific author and a very faithful and efficient teacher, Galen’s writings furnishing the basis of his lectures. He lived to be about eighty years of age, his death occurring in 857 A. D. Most of his writings have been lost. Of the twenty or more which have come down to our time those bearing the following titles deserve to receive special mention:—

Sabour ben Sahl, whose death occurred in 869 A. D., was also connected with the hospital at Djondisabour. He was distinguished on account of his special knowledge of the properties of simple drugs and their combinations. He was also the author of the exhaustive formulary known as Acrabadin Kebir—probably the first one of its kind, says Le Clerc, of which history makes any mention. This formulary or dispensatory—of which a large and a small edition existed—was in general use in all the hospitals, physicians’ offices, etc., of that time.

Still another most distinguished physician and author of medical treatises received his training at the Djondisabour school—viz., John, son of Serapion (or Serapion the Elder, as he is commonly called). He lived about the middle of the ninth century of the Christian era and wrote entirely in the Syrian language, but at a later date his works were all translated into Arabic. The smaller of his two most important treatises, and at the same time the one which appears to have attracted the most attention, was called the Kounnach. About the middle of the twelfth century A. D. it was translated into Latin by Gerard of Cremona, and named by him Breviarium; a still later translation received the name of Practica. The first part of this smaller treatise (the Breviarium or the Practica) is divided into six books, the titles of which are as follows:—

Salmouïh ben Bayan, a Christian, was the last one of the pupils of the Djondisabour school who attained considerable celebrity as a physician. When the Caliph Motassem came to the throne in 833 A. D., he appointed Salmouïh his personal physician and soon became very much attached to him; leaning upon him more and more for advice in all sorts of troubles. Salmouïh was the author of several medical treatises, but they have all been lost, not even their titles are now known to us. When dying (early in 840 A. D.), he sent word to the Caliph not to put his entire trust in the medical judgment of Mesué if he should find it necessary to call upon the latter for advice in the event of a serious attack of illness. This celebrated physician was universally admitted to be most learned in everything relating to medicine, but there were many of his professional brethren—and Salmouïh was among the number—who did not esteem him so highly as a practitioner. “The most important thing in medicine,” said the latter, “is to appreciate correctly the intensity of the disease, and that is something which Mesué, with all his learning, is not able to do.” However, despite the death-bed warning given by Salmouïh to Motassem, this ruler died less than two years later from the effects of the treatment which Mesué the Elder, who had been called in to prescribe for his Highness, had ordered.

In addition to the pupils already mentioned there are a few others who, according to the testimony of Le Clerc, reflected some credit upon the institution in which they acquired their medical training. But enough has already been said, I believe, to establish the fact that, in this remote Persian province of Khorassan (to the west of the country known to-day as Afghanistan), there existed during the eighth and ninth centuries of the present era a most efficient medical school, which was entirely managed by Nestorian Christians, and which sent out into the world trained physicians of the very highest type.

CHAPTER XIX
FURTHER ADVANCE OF THE ARAB RENAISSANCE DURING THE NINTH AND SUCCEEDING CENTURIES OF THE CHRISTIAN ERA

During the latter part of the eighth century the Arab Renaissance, so far at least as the science of medicine was concerned, was controlled and kept in vigorous life almost entirely by physicians who were connected with the school at Djondisabour—one might almost say, by physicians who were members of the Bakhtichou family. To this family, therefore, belongs the chief credit for the admirable results attained during this, the first stage of the Renaissance. But during the ninth century A. D. men who had not received their professional training at this famous school came to the fore and gave a fresh and a more vigorous impulse to the work than their predecessors had given. Under the Bakhtichous the translating had been well started, and in addition a few original medical treatises had been written in the Arabic language. During the period which followed, however, the translating and copying became more active than before, and, in addition, several really valuable treatises were produced by men who wrote in Arabic, and who were—if not racially Arabs—at least the adopted sons of that nation. Of these men none stands out more prominently than Honein, who, according to Le Clerc, “accomplished a marvellous amount of work of the most varied character and of a very high degree of excellence, and that too despite many obstacles. While he was not the originator of the Renaissance in the East, he took the most active part in keeping it up.”