[??...] ‘and that which is nobler. And you will retain the noblest of the noble [functions]. And these causes which we have noticed we have set down in their order; and the beginning is concerning catarrhal discharges from the head.’

Compare with this the real [text] of Maimonides:[376]

קד עלמת קול אלאטבא קוי׳ נפסאניה קוי׳ חיואניה וקוי׳ טביעיה. ולנפס אנא אלאן פי הדה אלאצטלאח גמיע אפעאל בדן אלאנסאן אלאפעאל אלבדניה [ואשרף אלאפעאל אלתנפש ובעדה אלנבט[377]] ובעדה אל אחסאס. ואשרף אלחואס אלבצר. תם אלסמע ובעד אלאחסאס שהוה אלטעאם ואלשׁראב. ובעד דאלך אלכלאם. ובעד דאלך אלתמייז. אעני בה אלתכייל ואלפכר ובעד דאלך חרכה סאיר אלאעצא עלי מעתאדהא והדה אלרטבה[378] (sic)‏ פי אלשרף אנמא הי בחסב צרוריה אלחיאה או צלאחיה אסתמראהא״ ובעד הדה אלמקדמה פלתעלם אן אלטביעה אסם משתרך יקאל עלי מעאני כתירת ומן גמלה תלך אלמעאני אלקוה אלמדברה לבדן אלחיואן פאנהא אלאטבא יסמונהא איצי טביעה והדה אלקוה הי איצי . . . . . . פאן גלבת ען דלך בדלת מא הוא אשרף ותמסכת באלשרף פאלאשרף ובחסב הדה אלתרתיב יעלם אלמרץ אלח׳.

‘Thou knowest the opinion of the physicians [concerning] animal power, vital power, and natural power. But it is my intention here to call all the functions of man’s body by the one name of “bodily functions”. [The noblest of the functions is breathing, next the pulse,[377]] and lastly the senses. Of the senses, the noblest is sight, which is followed by hearing. Following on the senses is the appetite for food and drink, after it being speech and then the mind, by which I mean the thoughts and the intellect. Next comes the motion of the other parts of the body according to their customary manner. This arrangement in order of nobility is only according to the requirements of life or the health of its faculties.

‘From this preface you will recognize that “nature” is an equivocal term which can be used in many meanings. One of these meanings [for example] is “the motive power in the bodies of animals” which the physicians call “nature” too.... And if you discover this, you will exchange that which is nobler and retain that which is noblest. By means of this process of arrangement, a disease can be recognized,’ &c.

This introduction was added when the folios stood in a state of disorder different from their present one. The catchword at the bottom of the page [وهذا‎, = and this] points forward to the title already mentioned,[379] which appears on folio thirty-​nine of the present arrangement. The text below this title is part of the chapter on discharges and catarrh, so that the folio once followed immediately on the introduction, being then, too, out of its proper place.

The last page, written in the same hand as the introduction, bears a piece of some unidentified work and a colophon which reads:

وقد تم هذا الكتاب الشريف تاليف موسى ابن ميمون القرطبى الاسرايلى رحمه الله مما الف وجرب هذا الكتاب المبارك وعدد فصوله مائة وست فصول للجميع(sic)‏ امراض البدن مما رتبه على اوضاعه تم الكتاب فى سنة (sic)٦٥٢٧‏ سبع مالة و وخمسة وستين

‘This noble book is finished; the composition of Mûsa ibn Maimûn the Cordovan, the Israelite, to whom God be gracious. This blessed book is part of that which he composed and tested. The number of its chapters is 106, dealing with all the diseases of the body, which he arranged in their proper order.