192 r Leigh N. Chipman
other chapters describe the preparation of compound medicines. This was
a very popular book that survives in about thirty manuscripts. According
to Goitein, it continued to be in use by “traditional druggists” in Cairo un-
til the twentieth century,^6 and according to Levey, it was “still very popular
mainly outside the large cities” as late as the 1960s.^7 In his introduction,
al-Kuhin al- ̔Attar states that he is composing this work because none
of the preceding formularies have been suitable for pharmacists; rather,
they have been written by physicians for physicians and are not as useful
in a drugstore setting as they are in a hospital.^8 Backing for this claim can
be found in the titles of the formularies: al-Dustur al-bimaristani (The
rule for the hospital) versus Minhaj al-dukkan (The management of the
[apothecary’s] shop).
Table 11.1 compares the structure of the two works. Even the most cur-
sory glance reveals that Minhaj al-dukkan contains more subjects than
does al-Dustur al-bimaristani. While most of the text of Minhaj al-dukkan
follows the usual structure of aqrabadhinat (i.e., pharmacopoeias), that
is, a division into chapters according to the method of preparation, these
chapters are preceded and followed by chapters more commonly found
in medical encyclopedias such as Ibn Sina’s al-Qanun fi ’l-tibb. True to his
aim of providing pharmacists with all the knowledge they need, al-Kuhin
al- ̔Attar combined the simple formulary with the relevant sections of en-
cyclopedias aimed at physicians. Most of these additions were placed after
the pharmacopoiea proper (chapters 20–25), but like the encyclopedias,
which begin by defining the character and qualities desirable in a physi-
cian, Minhaj al-dukkan begins with a section on the qualities and char-
acter of the aspiring pharmacist. With this exception, all the material in
Minhaj al-dukkan relates to practical rather than theoretical knowledge.
Like Minhaj al-dukkan, al-Dustur al-bimaristani begins with a preface.
This, in fact, is the only nonformulary section there. The prefaces of books
do not form a literary genre in themselves but are programmatic notes
setting out the author’s purpose in writing. According to Freimark, “In the
central part, almost always introduced by the rhetorical formula amma
ba ̔du (‘now, then, now to the point’), the author states the real reason for
writing his book. For this he mostly uses topoi, which consist largely of
schematic patterns of thought and expression belonging to literary tradi-
tion, and which have parallels in European literatures of the late classical,
medieval, and early modern periods. On the other hand, several authors
also show personal approaches based on reality.”^9