402 experiments he had carried out him- self, on the other hand we find his universe mixed with demons and an evident belief in magic. This combina- tion, which seems a curious one to modern minds, was a common one in medieval and early modern times and we find seventeenth-century scholars still citing the macrocosm-microcosm relationship as a basis for their belief that man might study nature about him and thus learn more of the great world and his Creator. As an aid to an un- derstanding of this archaic view of na- ture Thorndike’s volume should be wel- comed by all students of pre-Newtonian science, ALLEN G, Denus University of Chicago I ISLAMIC CULTURES Sami Khalaf Hamarneh; Glenn Sonne- decker. A Pharmaceutical View of Abuleasis alZahvawi in Moorish Spain with Special Reference to the “ Adhan.” xii + 176 pp., illus., apps., bibl., index. Leiden: Brill, 1963. HL. Fl. 3 In the unique political, economic, and cultural atmosphere of the cen- turies of Arabic occupation of Spain, al-Zahrawi (c. 936-1013) represents a typical example of the meeting of classi- cal civilization, in the new Arabic elaboration, with the West, which was then prepared for a new intellectual life. We must be grateful to Dr. Hamarneh, who in recent years has in- igated the life and work of a Zahrawi. The present book, prepared ‘with Professor Sonnedecker, contains the edition, translation, and analysis of part of the twenty-fifth of the thirty treatises (maqala’s) of the main work of al-Zahrawi, the encyclopedic medical work “ Kitab al-Tasrif,” the book useful for physicians. Al-Zahrawi's work spread quickly in the West, and the authors in addition discuss the tradition and translations of other treatises, mainly the first, second, twenty-eighth, and thirtieth treatises. BOOK REVIEWS ~ISIS, 57-8-189 (1966) The thirtieth treatise, on surgery, was wanslated into Latin by Gerard of Cremona in Toledo as early as the second half of the twelfth century, and the success of the book was so great that al-Zahrawi was essentially known in the West as “ the celebrated surgeon Abuleasis.” ‘The twenty-eighth treatise, on simples, was translated into Latin with the title of Liber servitoris at the end of the thirteenth century by Simon of Genoa and by the Jew Abraham of Tortosa, and the first printed edition appeared in Venice as early as 1471. The first and second treatises, on gen- eral and clinical medicine, were also translated from Arabic into Latin. French and Spanish translations of parts of al-Tasrif were made beginnin; with the thirteenth century, and vari- ous partial Hebrew translations of the book were made after 1254. Tt is inter esting at this point to recall the role played by the Jews in the transmission of Arabic science and culture in the West, as Dr. Steinschneider has shown in his fundamental papers in the last century. The authors begin the book with a description of the climax of Arabic culture in Umayyad Spain and the flourishing of Cordova and nearby re- gions — the opening of new schools and cultural centers, the practice and de- velopment of ‘medicine, astronomy, mathematics, ALZahriwi, who dedi- cated himself to medicine, lived until about 1013, a few years before the fall of the Umayyad dynasty. His name is from al-Zahra‘, the royal city in the suburb of Cordova. New information on the life, edu- cation, and activities of al-Zahrawi bas been obtained by the authors through the examination of twenty-five manu- scripts of partial or full editions of his main work. This investigation has made possible the critical identification of the original sequence of the thirty treatises of al-Tasrif and their different lengths and structures. It has also given rise to a new general and global view of the contribution of al-Zahrwi to medicine. Because of the particular field of in-BOOK REVIEWS —ISIS, 57-3-189 (1966) 408 terest of the authors, a major emphasis is given to the pharmaceutical infor- mation which is found not only in the twenty-fifth and twenty-eighth treatises but also in others (in numbers 8, 4, 5, 10, 11, 14, 15, 19, and 29), The nine- teenth treatise, dealing with cosmetol- ogy, was so far unpublished and has recently been analyzed by Dr. Hamar- neh (Bull. Hist. Med., 1965, 39:309- 825) Considering that no full edition or translation has so far appeared of al- Tasrif and that a large part of this fundamental work is still unpublished and not yet studied, we must welcome this edition and translation of a signifi- cant part of the twenty-fifth treatise, which describes both fixed and volatile oils (adhan), their uses, and the methods of extracting and preparing them. The study of the treatise on the adhan is of great interest not only for the history of pharmacy, and, in particular, of the pharmaceutical technique, but also for the history of trade products since it contains information on the drugs and simples available at the time of al- Zahrawi. The treatise may be con- sidered as divided into three parts: the first one deals with pharmaceutical technology, the second with the thera peutic uses of adhan, and the third deals with the drugs which may be blended with the adhan. The edition of the most significant part of the text has been made by com- paring four manwscripis, and the trans- jation’ is accompanied’ by comments which allow the reader to place the knowledge reported in al-Tasrif in the proper light in relation to previous and jater Arabic authors, with particular emphasis on the derivation from and improvements upon Dioscorides. Indices and an accurate bibliography complete the volume, ‘This work can be recommended as an example of a page of history of science which was written with a consideration of the cul- tural, social, and political context in which such science was possible Grorcio NEBBIA Universita di Bari, Italy I SEVENTEENTH & EIGHTEENTH CENTURIES John Herivel. The Background to New- ton’s Principia. xv + 387 pp., bibl., index, figs. Oxford: Glarendon Press, 1965. 70s. $11.20. ‘The appearance of John Herivel's welcome effort, The Background to Newton’s Principia, is in itself a com- mentary upon the increasing maturity of the history of science as a scholarly discipline. Tt may scem shocking to historians in other areas that Herivel’s book is the first extended and syste- matic look at Newton’s dynamical manuscripts; to historians of science, the book may serve as a pathfinder. As Derck Whiteside has pointed out, it is only recently that Newtonian scholar- ship has turned to a careful examina- tion of his vast. manuscript remains. Perhaps now, after Herivel, we will have an increasing number of studies in depth on other areas of Newton's achievement: optics, _ mathematics, chemistry. The prospective publication of Cohen and Koyré’s variorum Prin- cipia and of Guerlac’s variorum Optichs will doubtless spur further (and better) Newtonian studies. But, as Herivel demonstrates, the key to an understand- ing of the seventeenth century's greatest scientist lies in the manuscript record In his preface, Herivel promises the reader “ some sort of connected account of the growth of Newton's dynamical thought prior to the composition of the Principia,” through an interpretation and ordering of the documentary evi dence. The format of the book especi- ally lends itself to this task; it is a format increasingly being adopted in many areas of historical study. The book is divided into two parts. The first section contains six chapters of commentary upon various aspects of the evolution of Newton’s dynamics. ‘The second part is a collection of thir- teen important documents, well anno: tated, giving substance to the preceding commentary. Some of the manuscripts have appeared before, in whole or in part, but they are presented here to- gether for the first time.