196 r Leigh N. Chipman
of Ibn Abi ’l-Bayan in Minhaj al-dukkan,^20 it may well be that he was
al-Kuhin al- ̔Attar’s teacher as well. This can be supported by the fact
that Ibn Jumay ̔—Ibn Abi ’l-Bayan’s teacher—is also quoted extensively
in Minhaj al-dukkan. A specific chain of transmission (Ibn Jumay ̔ >Ibn
Abi ’l-Bayan >al-Kuhin al- ̔Attar) seems a more meaningful explanation
for this than a personal preference on al-Kuhin al- ̔Attar’s part for quoting
Jewish authors. If indeed al-Kuhin al- ̔Attar and Ibn Abi Usaybi ̔a were
not merely contemporaries but fellow students, the question of why Ibn
Abi Usaybi ̔a did not include al-Kuhin al- ̔Attar in his ̔Uyun al-anba’
becomes more pointed.^21 The most obvious answer is because al-Kuhin
al- ̔Attar cannot be numbered in tabaqat al-atibba’; he was not a physician
but only a pharmacist, as indicated by his name.
* * *One of the most important aspects of a pharmacist’s work is the relation-
ship with prescribing physicians. Comparing recipes composed by Ibn
Abi ’l-Bayan for use in hospitals with the way those recipes are quoted
in Minhaj al-dukkan for use by the private pharmacist can elucidate this
relationship. How, then, do recipes from al-Dustur al-bimaristani appear
in Minhaj al-dukkan? The first characteristic that leaps to sight is the lack
of verbatim quotation. Unlike most of the other sources quoted in Minhaj
al-dukkan,^22 Ibn Abi ’l-Bayan seems to give more details than al-Kuhin al-
̔Attar does, as in the recipe for squill (Urginea maritima) oxymel (sharab
al-sakanjabin al- ̔unsuli). See table 11.2.
Most obvious here are the detailed indications provided by Ibn Abi
’l-Bayan that are completely missing from al-Kuhin al- ̔Attar’s version of
the recipe. Does he expect the physician to prescribe this medicine ex-
plicitly, thus making indications unnecessary? If so, why is this not always
the case? In addition, Ibn Abi ’l-Bayan gives highly detailed instructions
for preparation, contrasting sharply with al-Kuhin al- ̔Attar’s vagueness:
rather than sealing the mixture for two months and leaving it in the sun,
Ibn Abi ’l-Bayan rather pedantically places the box in the hot sun and
then takes it out of the sun, before mixing it with either sugar or good
pure honey; rather than letting it achieve the [desired] consistency, Ibn
Abi ’l-Bayan requires that the sugar and vinegar be cooked like plain oxy-
mel (the recipe for which he has already given).
Another recipe with more detailed instruction in the al-Dustur al-
bimaristani version is for root oxymel (sharab sakanjabin usuli), which