Journal of - International Society for the History of Islamic Medicine

The Curing Power of the Old Thermal Spring Mentioned in
Murad Emrî Efendi’s “Bursa’s Natural Thermal Springs”
İbrahim İmran ÖZTAHTALI*, Gülay DURMAZ**
*Dr,Uludağ Üniversity, Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Department of Turkish Language and Literature, Bursa, Turkey.
e-mail: iboz@uludag.edu.tr
**Dr,Uludağ Üniversity, Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Department of Turkish Language and Literature, Bursa, Turkey.
e-mail: cavdurel@yahoo.com
Summary
One of the most famous characters of the 19th century Bursa, Murad Emrî Efendi is known for being the first journalist in Bursa. Except for his journalist
side he also had a fondness for education and books and also his typographer identity which had a great contribution to the cultural life of Bursa.
Both his scientific articles and brochures he individually wrote and printed in his newspapers are remarkable. The scope of this article of ours is the
“Bursa’s Thermal Springs” book which was firstly published as a consecutive narrative and printed in Matbaa-i Emrî on various dates mentioning the use
of the curing power of The Old Thermal Spring for some diseases.
Key Words: Murad Emrî Efendi, Old Thermal Spring, Bursa.
Introduction
Murad Emrî Efendi born in 1880 in Larissa [Yenişehir
Fenar] now within the borders of Greece moved to Bursa
with his family in 1882 after the 1878 Berlin treaty. 1 Despite
his fondness for reading and books Murad Emrî Efendi
didn’t have the chance to get a regular education although
he wanted it very much. He tried to compensate his lack
of education through reading and writing in his personal
library which had thousands of books. His enterprises in
education after he moved to Bursa reveal themselves as
the compensation of his lack of education. As a versatile
intellectual, Murad Emrî Efendi built a library named Kütüphâne-i
Emrî to serve the people of Bursa. Not long after
he founded Kitaphane-i Emrî a modern book shop which
later became an important part of the cultural life in Bursa
by getting together the newly published books in İstanbul
rapidly with the readers in Bursa..
Figure 1: Logo of
Matbaa-i Emrî
Emrî Efendi’s emigration to Bursa
started a new era for both himself and
19 th century Bursa. Murad Emrî Efendi
started his journalism career with
a children’s newspaper called Fevaid
which he had printed in the Hüdavendigâr
printing house. 2 This step gave
Murad Emrî Efendi the first civilian
journalist title. However Murad Emrî Efendi’s most important
venture was Matbaa-i Emrî. After Ferâizcizade printing
house the second private printing house was founded
by Murad Emrî Efendi. Later he printed the first newspaper
“Bursa” and the first economy magazine “Sanayi” in his
printing house and presented them to the cultural life of
Bursa. 3
Murad Emrî Efendi a printing house owner and a science
and literature enthusiast says that his only aim was to
contribute to education and science. 4 Matbaa-i Emrî, has
become a very important part of this contribution. Emrî
Efendi wrote an introductory and printed all the manuscripts
in his library which were on the brink of disappearance
and prevented them from vanishing forever and thus
became an editor as well. He also printed many books and
brochures which he thought would contribute to the cultural
life in Bursa. Murad Emrî Efendi became an important
face of the 19 th century Bursa’s cultural life. In his introduction
he wrote in the first issue of the Bursa newspaper
he noted that the primary purpose of journalism is to enlighten
the community. Accordingly with what he said he
allowed many scientific articles both in Bursa newspaper
and Fevaid. One of these articles published in the “Fünun”
section of the Bursa newspaper on 20 th December 1892 is
the “Bursa’s Thermal Springs” which was published one
chapter at a time. In the 100th issue of the Bursa newspaper
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ISHIM 2011-2012