EYE TREATMENTS IN THE TREATISE ON SMALLPOX AND MEASLES IN THE HILANDAR MEDICAL CODEX

Abstract

This paper examines protections and treatments of the eyes described in the Treatise on Smallpox and Measles in the Hilandar Medical Codex, a Serbian medical collection from the mid-sixteenth century. The Treatise on Smallpox and Measles, which, together with the Treatise on the Plague constitutes a single treatise, originates from the Canon of Medicine, a work by the Persian physician Avicenna (980–1037). The Old Serbian translation of this treatise was based on the Latin translation of the Canon of Medicine, created in Toledo at the end of the twelfth century by Gerard of Cremona. In the paper, all medicinals used for treatments of the eyes of those affected by smallpox and measles, some of which have not been previously identified, are precisely identified and presented. Special attention is given to a typical Arab drug called murri, which was also not known in previous editions of the codex. Descriptions of individual medicines are found in the List of Simple Remedies in the Hilandar Medical Codex, which is a translation of the Latin work Circa instans, a famous pharmacopoeia from the Schola Medica Salernitana that dates to the late twelfth century, which is also highlighted.

Keywords

• eye treatments, Treatise on Smallpox and Measles, murri (al-murri), Hilandar Medical Codex, Avicenna, Canon of Medicine, Old Serbian medical manuscripts, sixteenth century