Geniza Lab

Recto/verso: recto

Entry in court notebook (#54). Prescription. Recipe for preparation of an ointment consisting of powdered litharge (martak masḥūq); calf suet (shaḥm kulā ʿijl); aged, fine oil (zayt ṭayyib ʿatīq); and perhaps dragon's blood (reading קטאר as qāṭir). The title is difficult to read; Goitein suggests "marham kulā" (kidney ointment, with the dot over the letter preceding kulā indicating that it should be deleted). Also possible is "marham nakhlī" (date-palm ointment). Contemporary documents and literary sources indicate that a "date-palm ointment" was used for the treatment of wounds; cf. T-S 8J20.26. Although no component of this ointment derives from a date-palm, it is to be stirred while it cooks with a green palm leaf (yuḥarrak bi-jarīd akhḍar), and plausibly the same leaf is somehow incorporated or used to apply the completed ointment on to the desired site. NB: Goitein referred to this document as folio 21 (Firk. II NS 1700.21) in accordance with the foliation written in pen; but the correct folio is 22, as written in pencil (the librarian with the pen gave two folios the number 8). ASE.