Take pennyroyal [Mentha pulegium Linn.], absinthe [Artemisia maritima Linn.], thyme, rue, hyssop, camomile, abrotanum [Artemisia abrotanum Linn.], and other similar herbs. Put all in a casserole and cover them with vinegar. Then close tightly with clay [lutum-sapientiae]—except for a small hole in the middle of the cover—and boil. Connect one end of a hollowed instrument, a crude form of an inhaler [[fig. 14]], with the hole in the cover and insert the other end, which contains the nozzle, into the patient’s mouth, allowing the vapor to rise up to the uvula. And if you are not able to secure this instrument, take a straw and attach its end to an egg-shell. The egg-shell will prevent burns in the patient’s mouth that might be caused by the heated vapor.
Figure 13.—Metal tongue depressor. Top, from original Arabic manuscript (Ali 2854), courtesy Süleymaniye Umumi Kütüphanesi Müdürlüğü. Bottom, from Channing, Albucasis.
Figure 14.—Crude form of an inhaler. Top, from original Arabic manuscript (Tüb. MS. 91), courtesy Universitätsbibliothek Tübingen. Bottom, from Argellata 1531, courtesy National Library of Medicine.
Al-Zahrāwī repeats in chapter 53, on cancer, what Greek physicians had said earlier, that cancer could be removed by surgery only at its first stage and when found in a removable part of the body, such as the breast. Therefore, he confesses that neither he nor any one else he knew of ever applied surgery with success on advanced cancer.[26]
