[8] Lucien Leclerc, La Chirurgie d’Abulcasis, Paris, 1861 (hereinafter referred to as Leclerc, Abulcasis). This excellent French version was first published in a series of articles in Gazette Médicale de l’Algérie, and seems influenced by Channing’s edition more than Leclerc admits. Leclerc consulted several Arabic copies of the treatise as well as Latin and vernacular translations, but only a few of these Arabic manuscripts are considered complete. The Arabic manuscripts studied for the present article are not the same as those used by Leclerc. See also Leclerc’s monumental work, Histoire de la Médecine Arabe, Paris, 1876, vol. 1, pp. 453-457.
[9] Ernst Gurlt, Geschichte der Chirurgie und ihrer Ausübung Volkschirurgie-Alterthum-Mittelalter-Renaissance, Berlin, 1898, vol. 1, pp. 620-649, with more than 100 figures. In the text and illustrations, Gurlt relied upon Leclerc’s translation and modified drawings of the surgical instruments; nevertheless, he presents a brief, systematic study—probably the best so far—of the entire treatise.
[10] Karl Sudhoff, Beiträge zur Geschichte der Chirurgie im Mittelalter, Leipzig, 1918 (hereinafter referred to as Sudhoff, Chirurgie), vol. 2, pp. 16-84, with a few plates. Although Sudhoff consulted the fragmentary Arabic manuscript indexed as "Cod. Arab. 1989" in Gotha, Germany, he relied mainly upon Latin versions of the treatise and the illustrations contained in them.
[11] See Leclerc, Abulcasis, in introduction.
[12] The seven Arabic manuscripts are indexed as "Berlin MS. Or. fol. 91," temporarily at Universitätsbibliothek Tübingen, in Germany; "Escorial MS. Arabe No. 876," at Biblioteca del Monasterio de San Lorenzo el Real de El Escorial, in Spain; "Wien MS. Cod. N.F. 476 A.," at Oesterreichische Nationalbibliothek, in Vienna; and "Ali Emiri Arabi No. 2854," "Beșir Ağa Nos. 502 and 503," and "Veliyyudin No. 2491," all at Süleymaniye Umumi Kütüphanesi Müdürlüğü, in Istanbul. Hereinafter these manuscripts are referred to, respectively, as Tüb. MS. 91; Esc. 876; Wien 476 A; Ali 2854; Bes. 502; Bes. 503; and Vel. 2491. The Smithsonian Institution recently obtained a microfilm copy of Bankipore Manuscript No. 17 from the Khuda Bakhsh O. P. Library, Patna (Bihar), India. This manuscript, containing only the 30th treatise of al-Taṣrīf, was copied in 1189; therefore, it is the earliest dated Arabic manuscript of the surgical treatise known to exist. The surgical illustrations therein add weight to the belief that the Arabic manuscripts show more originality in the drawings than do the later copied versions, which often were inaccurate and possibly distorted. About ten other illustrations from the Arabic manuscript in Istanbul indexed as "Topkapi MS. No. 1990" (which contains 215 beautifully illustrated figures) were presented by A. S. Ünver and Hüseyin Usman in an extract titled "Meșhur Arab Cerrahi Elbülkasimi Zehravi ve onun Kitabül Cerrahiyesi," Istanbul, 1935. See also Ünver, Serefeddin Sabuncuoğlu: Kitabül Cerrahiyei Illhaniye, Istanbul, 1939, pp. [5]-7.
[13] See introduction to the treatise; for example, Bes. 502, fol. 522v-523v and Vel. 2491, fol. 104r-105v. See also K. P. J. Sprengel, Versuch einer pragmatischen Geschichte der Arzneikunde, Halle, 1823, vol. 2, pp. 449-451. George J. Fisher, in "Abul-Casem Chalaf Ibn Abbas al-Zahrāwī, Commonly Called Albucasis," Annals of Anatomy and Surgery, July-December, 1883, vol. 8, pp. 24-25, gives a translation of only the first part of the introduction.
[14] There are 56 chapters listed in almost all manuscripts and commentary works I checked except Tüb. MS. 91 and Esc. 876, where only 55 chapters are listed.
[15] Al-Zahrāwī mentions several caustic medicines used in cautery, among which are garlic, mustard, melted lead, slaked or unslaked lime with or without "common" soap, Thapsia (Ruta graveolens Linn.), and juice of the Oriental cashew nut (Senecarpus anacardium Linn.).
[16] Vel. 2491, fol. 106; Bes. 502, fol. 523r-524v.
[17] Al-Zahrāwī criticizes those who interpret the saying "cautery is the end of treatment" to mean that cauterization is the best and only conclusive treatment at the physician’s disposal. He points out that other treatments, such as drugs, should be resorted to first, and used until they prove of no avail; and he states that only after cautery proves to be the cure should it be considered the completion of medical treatment—"al-kay ākhir al-Ṭibb." See Vel. 2491, fol. 106; and Bes. 502, fol. 524r-525v.