Complete Record - Heirs of Hippocrates No. 72

ALIIBN ISA AL-KAHHAL (fl. 1010) Memorandum book of a tenth-century oculist for the use of modern ophthalmologists. Northwestern University 1936 xxxix, 232 pp., front. (facsim.), illus., plates. 26.6 cm.

Known as Jesu Haly in Latin Europe, Ali ibn Isa was a Christian physician and a leading ophthalmologist who lived and practiced in Baghdad. His greatest treatise was the Tadhkirt which became the standard ophthalmological work until well into the eighteenth century. Arranged in three parts, the book covers the anatomy and physiology of the eye, external diseases of the eye which can be detected during routine examination, and internal diseases of the eye which are not as easily detected. Surgical operations are detailed and general anesthesia is mentioned in four places. A large number of ophthalmic remedies are included, many of which are known to us today. This first English edition of the Tadhkirt was translated by Casey Albert Wood (1856-1942), a former head of the Department of Ophthalmology at Northwestern University and noted medical historian.

Cited references: Cushing A132; Garrison-Morton 5815

Gift of John Martin, M.D.