Hekimbaşı Hayatizade Mehmed Emin Efendi Döneminde Osmanlı Sarayında Uygulanan İlaç Terkipleri
Authors: Mehmed Emin Efendi Hayatizade 
Published: December 2023

"The work you have in your hand consists of approved drug prescriptions that were prepared and experienced by Ottoman Palace physicians as stated at the beginning of the studied manuscript, which is kept in the Caliph Abdülmecid Efendi Collection of the National Palaces Library. As can be understood from the personal seals of the palace surgeons on the first page of the manuscript, the title phrase written in red ink on the second page, and its content, the drug prescriptions in question were recorded during Hayatizade Mehmed Emin Efendi’s position as chief physician during the reign of Sultan Mahmud I. Hayatizade Mehmed Emin Efendi, who also served as sheikhulislam for a short time, was the son of the mudarris Ahmed Efendi, and the grandson of the Jewish convert Mustafa Feyzi Efendi, the chief physician during the reign of Sultan Mehmed IV. The manuscript is written in two different handwritings and two separate calligraphy. In the first part, the subject and composition headings are mostly written in red ink, and in the second part, they are written in a single line with the same color ink. The first part is written mainly in naskh, the second part is written in talik. The frame ornament of the lacquered binding and the brackets embroidered on the front and back cover consist of plant motifs painted with gold gilding. In the middle of the volume there is a bouquet of flowers painted in Edirnekari style. The size of the binding, which is brown leather, is 18x29 and pages are 17x28 in size. The number of lines on unwatermarked paper is irregular and variable. When the content and style of the manuscript is studied, it is perceived that the work was not written by an author or copyist and is a single copy. In the work; words written according to different dialects and accent pronunciations, as well as the different spellings of the same word and often with incorrect spellings, are also encountered. The manuscript is a handwritten notebook in which prophylactic and therapeutic prescriptions were recorded. These prescriptions are those prepared for the sultan, princes, members of the harem and other palaces, leading statesmen such as the grand vizier, sheikh-al-Islam and chief harem eunuch, and the public, under the supervision of chief physicians during various periods in the Ottoman palace hospitals and pharmacies. Although there is no systematic classification of subjects as in a classical medical manuscript, drug preparations for certain symptoms and diseases, i.e. pain, fever, diarrhea, bleeding, cough, dyspnea, cold, stomach upset, dental disorders, malaria, syphilis, hemorrhoid, wounds and swellings etc. are brought together. Moreover, medicines registered in this work, which resembles an acrabadin, were classified according to drug forms using the terminology of the period, such as various sherbets, solutions, suspensions, decoctions, distillates, essential oils, medicinal liquors, enemas, pills, sublingual tablets, pharmaceutical powders, gargles, ointments, potions, poultices, plasters, pastes and incenses. In this study, the work was transcribed into todayʼs Latin alphabet with a simple method for easier reading, preserving the Turkish pronunciations of its period. It was not preferred to use transcription signs in drug names and other words that were widely used in Turkish. Pharmaceutical compositions have been converted into tables. An introductory text about the content of the work, list of subject headings and an index have been prepared, aiming for the maximum benefit of the reader."