Untitled

'
140
k NOTES ON THE FOURTH DISCOURSE
<
holds good of much Persian rpoetry. Thirdly, their gentle melancholy,
half sceptical mysticism arid graceful pessimism are congenial to an age
which, like his own, has come to the conclusion tr/at science can answer
almost every question save that -which most intimately concerns our own
hopes and happiness.
The inforiration given by Mirza Muharrftnkd in the latter part of his ,
. note. (pp. 222-7) about the European renderings of 'Umar-i-Khayyam
and his admirers and imitators, and especially about the Club called by ,
his name, though new to most Persian readers, is familiar to all in this
country who take an interest in such matters, and may be found in great
detail in t Nathan Haskell Dole's " Multi-Variorum edition" (Macmillan,
London, 1898).
'
'
(
<
Note XXVI. On certain medical terms in the Preface
to the Fourth Discourse.
(Text, pp. 68-9 ;
Persian notes, p. 230.)
The Pulse (Naod) is very fully discussed in all Arabic and Persiaa
works on Medicine, e.g. the Firdawsu'l-Hikmat of 'All ibn Rabbali
at-Tabari, Naw^ iv, Maqdla xii, chs. 6-9 (Brit. Mus. Arundel Or. 41,
ffl i63 a
-i6s b ); the Kamilu's-Sina'at, also called al-Kitabu'l-
Maliki, of 'Ali ibnu'l-'Abbas al-Majusf, Part I, Maqdla vt'i, chs. 2-11
(Cairo ed. of 1294/1877, vol. i, pp. 254-281); the Qanun of Avicenna,
Book I, Fann ii, TffUm iii,Jumla 1(19 sections), pp. 62-8 of the Rome
edition of A.D. 1593
= b b
ff.
( 49 ~53 of the Latin translation printed at
Venice in 1544); and [he Persian Dhakhira-i-Khwarazmsha'hi,
Book 12', Guftdr Hi, chs. 1-23.
As our author chiefly follows Avicenna, we-may conveniently do the
same, though indeed the general views of all these writers appear to be
almost identical. Each pulsation consists of four factors or elements,
two movements (harakaf), a diastole (inbisdt} and a systole (inqibdd),
and two pauses (suktiri) separating the two movements. The ten kinds or
genera (jins) of pulse are determined by consideration of the following
features :
t t , (i) The amount of the diastole (miqddru*l-tnbif it," genus quod* est
sumptum ex quantitate diastoles "). In this genus th/ee elements'" are to
be considered, length (tul), breadth l
( ard} 'and l
depth ( um%),
each of
which supplies three simple varieties of pulse, two extremes and a mean,
besides composite varieties, which I shall not here enumerate* Thus we
have the long (tawil}, the short (qasir, "curtus") a.nd the intermediate,
the broad ('arid, "latus"), the narrow (dayyiq,
(mu'tadil, " mediocris ") ;
" "
strictus ") and the intermediate the ; depressed (mukhaffad, pro-
fundus "), the ascending, elevated or prominent (mushrif, " apertus ")
and the intermediate.
(2) The quality of the impact on the fingers of the observer
(kayfiyyatu qar'i'l-harakati'l-asdbi'a, "genus quod est sumptum ex
qualitate percussionis venae in digitos "). This also has three varieties,
the strong (qawi, "fords"), the weak (da 1
!/, "debilis") and the intermediate
(mufadil, " asqualis ").