Abhomeron Abynzohar & Colliget Auerroys (Medical Compendium)

¶ The book Theicir dahalmodana vahaltadabir begins, the interpretation of which is "The Rectification of Medication and Regimen," edited in Arabic by that perfect man, Abhomeron Abynçohar.
¶ The author’s preface begins.

Abhomeron Abynçohar, servant to the King, says: I testify that I have not compiled this book except by the force and endeavor of many pressures, and by the cause of strong and continuous impulsion. And with this, I tempered and rectified that which was difficult in the corrupted quires that were in the hands of many students in the sciences and in the other scientific path, and in matters of rational medicine. And I am altogether dismissing the scientific compilations of the ancient texts, because it will not suffice for me in this compilation to express necessary things alone, just as I did in the book I compiled concerning decoration during the time of my youth, in which I spoke of prostrate intentions in such a way that I am now ashamed of certain words placed there when I spoke of the causes of bad and corrupt doses; from which I was disturbed by this defect. But now in this book, I shall walk a path pre-thought and examined, maintaining mediocrity to the best of my ability in this my compilation. And I shall rectify [it] so much that I shall not walk into the aforementioned error in which I said, walking between two paths, and balancing between two things. And when I had begun this work, there was a man of high standing who was placed in charge of this business, and that which I had pre-thought on this did not please him. And he said that the utility of this work was far from him who was not very advanced in the science of medicine, and that it was not according to the precept of the Miramamolin, nor according to the understanding of his nobility. Then I withdrew myself from that order and declined toward generality, and I compiled it, forced, extending from the path pre-thought, although I did this compilation unwillingly; so clearly and openly that nothing is hidden in the sick, nor in the standing.

Abhomeron Abynçohar of the King says: Praise and glory be to the omnipotent God, of whom all things that the senses apprehend testify to His power and unity. And may His mercy be upon all the just prophets. And may God preserve the honor and nobility of my lord, the Miramamolin. After this, I shall begin to compile noble things, aggregating medicines suitable to symptoms and causes inducing afflictions, which you will be able to find easily and without difficulty, suitable for the servants of God and the pure, through a way easy in the perfection of brevity. And this I shall not do out of a love of luxury, fearing labor, like those who intend to live luxuriously; and I shall begin with the divine will with things preserving health.

¶ All physicians have agreed that having a soft bowel preserves health by the nod of God. But that which does this most lightly is to dissolve the weight of 10 gold pieces of tamarinds in warm water, and of fresh, crushed rhubarb, the weight of three parts of a gold piece, and thus leave it for 23 hours; then strain and add there one ounce of syrup made from citron peel, and give it to drink.
¶ Physicians have recalled that whoever drinks one drachm of tyriaca alfozet (that is, the liberator, that is, the great one) before food with warm water every ten days in the wintertime, will escape by the nod of God from putrid fevers, and from epilepsy, and from colic, and it will preserve the health of all members. ¶ And they say that it delays gray hair, and that whoever continues this, snakes will not harm him with the bite of venomous animals, nor will poison, nor pestiferous medicine, with the help of God.

¶ And whoever drinks the tyriaca is secure from the harm of drinking bad water. ¶ And if a man has withdrawn from generation, and takes them according to the aforementioned order, he will generate by the nod of God. And this I say the same for a woman. And a woman who cannot bring forth a fetus due to pain, if she receives half a gold piece’s weight of tyriaca, she will give birth by the nod of God. ¶ And if a woman who does not conceive receives of it half an ounce with one gold piece’s weight of ivory filings, she will have the cause of conceiving. ¶ And whoever suffers from colic by reason of cold, or from flatulence on an empty stomach, will be liberated. ¶ And if one drinks of it who has an old and great scabies that goes and returns, it profits him. ¶ And when you are anointed with it or apply a poultice of the said scabies, it will liberate it altogether. ¶ And if anyone suffers a great flux by reason of some acute medicine, or from some poisonous or bad humor, he is cured by it.

concerning emerald see q. book 4; he who drinks in water should not take food

¶ And whoever has had the aforementioned flux, if he takes the weight of nine grains of barley of emerald, ground and finely sifted with warm water on an empty stomach, he will be cured by it. ¶ And it is necessary for him who receives tyriaca or emerald that he delay food and drink until seven hours or a little more or less have passed from their reception. ¶ Item, if an emerald is suspended on the abdomen of one having a flux or lientery, it will liberate him. ¶ Item, note that fresh tyriaca profits ulcers, and especially those of the lung; and if you have none but old, you shall use it with a decoction or water of jujubes. ¶ And that which is forewarned concerning tyriaca, that it should not be mixed with food in the human body, is to be understood if necessity does not arise from strong, harmful causes, such as the bite of a serpent, or the drinking of some poison, or the drinking of some deadly medicine, since in these and similar cases, necessity leads us to administer it. ¶ And the reason for the warning not to mix tyriaca with food is that God gave it the virtue of expelling harmful causes by meeting them, and once received, it is not obedient to the members performing digestion. And when it is already mixed with food, then the food receives a disposition from this, that it is of difficult digestion, whence restlessness and pain occur to the one who has it, until the food is expelled before the body receives nourishment, and the food loses its essence, causing pain and anguish to the patient. But in time of necessity, he will be able to tolerate such pain and restlessness easily.

¶ Physicians have agreed that moderate exercise, whether done on foot or on horseback, assists in the preservation of health, provided the weather does not exceed in heat. ¶ Item, you should know that entering a bath moderately according to what is suitable—that is, once in ten days on an empty stomach, provided he is not famished and in dire need of food—is of value in the preservation of health, provided the weather is temperate and it does not exceed in heat too much. ¶ And they say again that a bath of fresh water, temperate between heat and cold, on an empty stomach preserves health. ¶ And know that it is prohibited by physicians to distill or sprinkle warm water especially upon the head; rather, they command that it be as warm as one can sustain.

Root of mulberry, see book 14

¶ And they say again that rubbing the teeth with the root of a walnut tree once every five days cleanses the head, and clarifies the senses, and sharpens the intellect. ¶ And similarly they say, and it is true, that eating bread well-leavened, suitably and excellently kneaded, and baked on the same day, after the retreat of the heat acquired from the fire, aids in the preservation of health. And just as I forbid eating cold bread after one day, so too [do I forbid] hot [bread], for the reason that if one eats it hot, its fiery heat pours into the stomach and corrupts it and dominates the stomach, wherefore it exists as very difficult of digestion. And this [is] because the digestion of the stomach is not effected in the way that the ignorant think, who say that all heat procures digestion; but just as they err, so too do they cause others to err. The members, however, digest food by their own radical and natural heat which they receive from the liver, and the food is divided by it and sent—thus proportionately to all members—according to what seems better to befit the precept of God for each member.

crumb of bread is lesser

Bread, however, that has stood after its baking for more than one day loses its temperate complexion; it becomes hard, and begins to receive alteration, and the more it hardens, [the harder is] its digestion.