Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1941-03-11
Of,Stors, Men
And Atoms
Notebook Of Science Progress
In Laboratory, Field
And Study
By Thomas r. Henry.

The medical secrets of the court ply
sicians of the Sultan saladin, SULLIVAN
the Magnificent, and the Arabian
Nights rulers of Bagdad now are in the
possession of the United States Army
Medical Corps.
They are contained in So battered
Arabian manuscripts just purchased
from q noinad Arab scholar who COL
lected them from the tents of desert
shieks and the Libraries Of Aoslem
savants during DO years Of wondering
through Turkey, Arabia, MeSopotanlia
and North Africa.
A British citizen, he now is in the
| United States and has requested officials
| of the surgeon generals library in
| Washington that his name not be re-
vealed. The Army was able to purchase
So OF the 100 medical manuscripts which
he offered The authenticity of all of
them is beyond question, and the others
may be bought later.
| The existence of some of these medical
works was not known before. Others
are copies of fairly well-known medi-
eval books. All are on paper whereas
European manuscripts of the time were
written on vellum-but all are in an ex-
cellent state Of preservation.
1t is not really expected that any ad-
dition to medical knowledge, per Sc, will
come from them. The Arab doctors
fNr ho nf "a
Greeks and Romans following the fall
of Rome, and made certain additions
of their own They lived, however, before
the DAYS of experimental science and
hardly could have run across much of
| present day value. The books will be
exceedingly difficult to translate.
The Army, however, has built up in
Washington the worlds greatest medical
library and the manuscripts are con-
sidered invaluable for scholars from all
over the world who come here to delve
into the history of medicine.
Already, however, DR.. C. F. Mayer OF
the library staff has made striking
discovery in an anonymous manuscript.
knowledge of the circulation of the
Eliza bethan physician, William Harvey.
But the theory is presented at length in
this book by the court physician Of the
Sultan Mohammed Bahadur, dated 1893.
Harvey's discovery was 200 years in the
future. The Sultan's doctor made elab-
crate drawings of the circulation through
the heart and lungs, but presented no
al tn rOiNt
DR.. Mayer also has found what is prob
ably the earliest description of cholera
in manuscript by certain Hakin Nidai,
physician of SULLIVAN the Magnificent
and presumably surgeon general of the
Turkish Army at the time of the invasion
of Vienna. Military medicine received
much attention from the Arab doctors.
Diet was one of their hobbies. One
voluminous manuscript is devoted to
cooking for monks. They also went in
heavily for love mostrums and the hys-
terical manifestations of women, since
their royal masters had large harems
torn by jealousy. None of the ways of
winning a lady's heart has been trans
lated. But the doctor had to know
good deal in this field or run the risk
of being thrown into the Bosphorus.
The Arab doctors, DR.. Mayer points
out, were literally patronized by the
shieks and sultans, often were men of
keen intellectS, and had the advantage
not only of the best European medical
science of their day but also of the
ancient medical lore Of the deserts.
Their manuscripts date from the ninth
century, when European culture was at
about the lowest level it ever reached.
Altogether the wandering Arab scholar,
one OF the greatest authorities on
Arabian learning now living, collected
approximately 1000 manuscripts in the
Moslem countries They deal with
almost every subject under the SUM- He
had intended to preserve them in Eng
land, but sent them to this country just
after the start of the war to save them
from danger of destruction by bombs
Development of a potent vaccine
against @ fever-newly discovered di-
sease supposedly brought to the United
States from Australia, which closely
Stimulates pneumonia-has just been an
nounced by the United States Public
Health Service.
1t protects guinea pigs from as much
as 100000 minimum infective doses
of the virus.
Presumably it could be used to protect
human beings in case of an epidemic Of
the malady which might break out at
any time. The Public Health Service
tests show that, like various other
viruses, this one greatly increases in
virulence as 1t passes from victim to
victim
Ever since an outbreak in the Public
Health Service laboratory last fall @
fever has been recognized as potential
national menace and efforts have been
underway to foreStall any major cpl
demic. The new vaccine, made from the
spleens and Ivers of infected mice, has
no value in treating the disease once it
has become established, but might be
used to protect an entire community
u,Ioo IN