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t<br />
142 I NOTES ON THE FOURTH DISCOURSE<br />
Next in importance to f .the examination of the pulse came the<br />
inspection of"the urine as a means of diagnosis. This is called, as in the<br />
(<br />
text,' Tafsira, a word thus defined in the great Dictionary of the Technical<br />
"<br />
Terms used in the Sciences of the Musalmdns :<br />
(p. 1115) This with the<br />
physicians is the vessel wherein is the patient's urine [intended] to be<br />
shewn to the physician ; and it is also calle'fi dalil (indication, guide). It <<br />
is Only called tafsira because it explains (tufassir) and makes manifest to<br />
the physician the patient's physical condition." The chief points tq be<br />
observed in it are the colour (lawn), consistency (qiwdni), smell (rd'tha),<br />
froth (zubd}, sediment (rusub}, and copious or scanty quantity (kathra{iva<br />
qillat}. .Twelve sections are devoted to this subject in the Qdnun, and<br />
in the Dhakhira-i-Khwdrazmshdhi.<br />
twenty-nine<br />
The word translated "delirium " in the text i*> sarsdnc, so explained<br />
by Schlimmer (pp. 179 and 460), with the equivalent of Phrenitis. This<br />
latter word appears correctly as i^Jxoi^s (farrdnitus) in a fine old<br />
twelfth or thirteenth century MS. of the Qdnun in my possession ; but<br />
in the Rome editisn of A.D. 1593 (p. 302) in the corrupt form ^Ja*.' \3<br />
(qardnitusy, and in the Latin version as "karabitus." It is defined by<br />
Avicenna as a " hot swelling (or inflammation) of the pia mater or dura<br />
mater not extending to the substance of the brain," and would therefore<br />
appear to be equivalent to meningitis.<br />
The general doctrine of Fever and its Varieties taught by " Arabian<br />
Medicine " is most clearly and succinctly set forth in Book V of the<br />
Persian Dhakhira-i-Khwdrazmshdhi, of which I possess a very fine MS.<br />
transcribed in the thirteenth century of the Christian era. This' Book<br />
comprises six Guftdrs, or Discourses, of which the first, divided into<br />
four chapters, treats " of what Fever is, and of how many species, how it<br />
appears and how it passes away." The first chapter, on " What Fever<br />
is," may be translated in full on account of its brevity.<br />
1 " '<br />
You must know that Fever is an abnormal 2 heat enkindled in the<br />
heart, transmitted by the intermediary of the spirit and the blood to the<br />
blood-vessels and [thus]<br />
diffused throughout the whole body, which it<br />
heats and inflames with an inflammation whereof the harmful effects<br />
appear in all the natural functions.' This sentence^ /formulated aboVe is<br />
the definition (hadd) of Fever the word ;<br />
'<br />
Heat :<br />
is the genus, while the<br />
other words are the specific differentiations' (fasl-h'd-yi dhdtt) whereby<br />
the definition is completed. Further you must know that the,, heat of<br />
Fever is not like the heat of anger, fatigue, grief and the HVe, because<br />
these heats harmfully affect the natural functions without the intervention,<br />
t<br />
of anything else, even as when water descends into the eye the hurtful<br />
effect thereof on the vision becomes apparent<br />
Without the intervention of<br />
and when the heat of anger,<br />
or the like thereo/, reaches<br />
anything else ;<br />
that point where it will be injurious to the natural functions, it is but the*<br />
cause, and the injury thereof only becomes apparent by the intervention<br />
of .something else. Even so is the of<br />
putridity \>uf&nat\<br />
fever, for the<br />
1 This, same corrupt form also occurs in most MSS. Dhakhira-iof\theKhw^razmskdhi,<br />
Book VI, Guftar i, Part i, ch.<br />
t,y where, however, the word is<br />
specifically<br />
recognized as Greek.<br />
'<br />
Gharib, lit. "strange."<br />
I<br />
4<br />
'<br />
'