Johannitius (Hunayn ibn Ishaq) (c. 810-877), Arabic scholar and physician

Fragment from Johannitius' Isagoge ad tegni Galeni or in artem parvam Galeni, the Latin translation of his commentary on Galen's Tegni entitled in Arabic al-Masa 'il fi'l-tibb (Questions on medicine) or al-Madkhal fi'l-tibb (Introduction to medicine). With marginal glosses in a contemporary hand. [Italy, first half of the 14th cent.]. Begins '...minus habundare in sua glaucitate et subnigrescere. Tunice oculorum sunt vii et humores tres.' Ends 'Sopnus corporis immutat natura. Primum quia infrigidat exterius et...' Hunayn ibn Ishaq's Questions on medicine, probably translated into Latin in the later 11th cent. by Constantine the African, became as the Isagoge a standard medical text of western Christendom, its study forming part of the university curriculum. It explained how the four humours of the Greeks related to the physical world and how they were influenced by the daily routines of exercise, bathing, eating, drinking, sleep etc. The Isogoge occupied first place in the medieval medical compendium the Articella (cf. Western MSS. 82,85,86,390,801a) and as such was first printed at Padua in c.1476. The text of the fragment broadly conforms to this edition, with differences of detail.

Early 14th century

1 volume 1 leaf, 315 × 210 mm. Vellum. Written space (single column) 205 × 100 mm., 35 lines. In a fine, rounded Gothic book hand, in black ink. Initials in red and blue, with penwork. Some staining and wear from later use as a wrapper or cover.

Purchased from Bernard Quaritch, 1991.

Described in typescript supplements, by Christopher Hilton and Richard Aspin, to the Library's published finding aids.