Arabo-Farsi anatomy figures

Abstract

We conclude our series of articles on the “Anatomy Charts”1–4 with the following note from Dr. Haddad. The images and accompanying description may now be found on Wikipedia: (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anatomy_Charts_of_the_Arabs) To the Editor: The table and references below summarize available information on 17 sets of very similar anatomy figures that I have been able to glean from the current published literature and put at the disposal of the readers. It is fair to assume that there are a few more similar figures, the locations of which are not yet known. I urge the reader and expressly enlist his kind cooperation in the task of completing this collection, which, at present, stands at exactly 100 colored hand-painted anatomy figures. There are several disputed points and questions about these figures. Here are some of them: Why did a few historians assume that these figures might be of Scythian or Tibetan origin? Which set is the original and which are copies? Who is the author of these figures? Why is the head always represented in a Mongolian perspective and why was the squatting position chosen? Why do these figures usually (with the exception of three sets) appear in mas ‘wd's text on anatomy? Why aren't these figures always mentioned or referred to in the text in which they are found? Why do they, sometimes, seem to have been just bound within the volume containing them and do not seem to form an integral part of it? Are they all from the same hand or drawn by different scribes? What is their relation to the similar Latin figures? Table 1 Seventeen sets of anatomy figures No Date Author Place Number References 01 <1400 AD manSwr Paris 1555 5, 13, 14 02 <1400 AD manSwr London 23556 5 03 1400 AD manSwr Oxford 1576 5, 6 04 C 1400 AD India Office 2296 5, 6 05 C 1450 AD manSwr Bethesda 9, 10 06 C 1450 AD manSwr Bethesda 9, 10 07 manSwr New Haven 10 08 manSwr New Haven 10 09 New Haven 10 10 Ibn sÿnA London 17 11 Ibn sÿnA London 12 1537 AD mahAbAdÿ California 90 8, 11, 15, 16 13 C 1650 AD manSwr Durham 12, 18 14 C 1650 AD manSwr Kansas 10 15 C 1650 AD manSwr Montreal 7785, 75 7, 10 16 C 1750 AD manSwr Kansas 10 17 C 1850 AD manSwr Montreal 7785, 76 7, 10 All manuscripts have six figures except number 12, which has only four. Once we have the answers to these questions, one can hope to study the available data with a comparative and critical analysis so that some of the existing mysteries can be resolved.