The Manifestation of Medicine of Ancient Period in Müntahab-ı Şifâ

Abstract

The work with the name of Müntahab-ı Şifâ written by Physician Celâlüddin Hızır who is known as Hacı Paşa is regarded as one of the first Turkish medicine books written in Anatolia. Hacı Paşa who provided giant contributions to the science of medicine through his studies and the books he wrote, formed Müntahab-ı Şifâ by summarizing then translating his book called Şifâü'l-Eskâm ve Devâü'lÂlâm from Arabic to Turkish. The manuscript of Şifâü'l-Eskâm ve Devâü'l-Âlâm which forms the basis of the Müntahab-ı Şifâ, is in the Topkapı Palace Museum Library and it is written by Hacı Paşa himself. Hacı Paşa wrote this work in Arabic on behalf of Aydınoğlu İsâ Bey in the 14th century. Şifâü'l-Eskâm ve Devâü'l-Âlâm is basically consists of four chapters; theoretical and practical medical knowledge, food-drinks and medicines, diseases and treatments of organs and the whole body. While presenting Müntahab-ı Şifâ, Hacı Paşa stated that he had prepared this book for a place where the physician was not available, so that the public also could understand the book and apply it to the necessary treatments partially. For this, he avoided complicated medical explanations in the book. The work with the name of Müntahab-ı Şifâ, which is the summary of Şifâü'l-Eskâm ve Devâü'l-Âlâm, consists of three main chapters (topics). First chapter; it is divided into two sub-sections (theoretical and practical parts), in which medical information and the purpose of medicine are described in detail. In the second chapter; the foods, caudles and medicines to be used for therapeutic purposes are listed. In the third and last chapter; disease causes, symptoms and the compositions of the drugs to be used in the treatment of these diseases are explained in detail. Through the work called Müntahab-ı Şifâ it is seen that, the humoral pathology theory which based on the prima materias of antique thinkers then gradually developed and became the criterion of disease, healing and equilibrium of health status of the medicine of antiquity is also based by Hacı Paşa. While forming Müntahab-ı Şifâ which he wrote largely through narrating his own medical applications, Hacı Paşa especially explained the exclusive names of the physicians and the scholars of both from Antique Age of the West and Middle Age of the East. Aristoteles, Hippokrates, Rufus of Ephesos, Galenos are some of the famous physicians of the ancient western medicine, which he cited in this work. Hacı Paşa notedly stated that he cited some of the methods of treating of some diseases from these physicians and scholars and he applied those specific treatment methods on the patients before he suggested them. While transferring these treatment methods, Hacı Paşa firstly stated in detail which physician he got his formula from, the compositions of the simple and complex medicines he said, the treatment of these diseases and how they should be applied. In this article, the theoretical and practical knowledge in the content of Müntahab-ı Şifâ will be compared with the knowledge of the western medicine of antiquity, so the medical literature of the period will be examined.