Geniza Lab

One side: Order from Shelomo b. Eliyyahu addressed to Abū l-Ḥasan. In Judaeo-Arabic. Abū l-Ḥasan is to give the bearer 1/4 raṭl sour pomegranate rubb (condensed juice); 1/4 raṭl apple rubb; 1/4 raṭl of something barley-based. Other side: Medical prescription in Arabic script. Begins "God is the one who cures in His mercy." Uses chicory seeds, borage, sandalwood, licorice, and bamboo chalk. ASE

Recto: Memorandum in Arabic script, with a learned disquisition on the meaning of the term "ṭabīʿa" in the works of Hippocrates. Names several specific medical treatises. Unclear if this is related to verso, which is a medical prescription, mentioning chebulic myrobalan, white agaric, turpeth and Chinese rhubarb. (Information in part from FGP.)

Letter from an unknown writer, in Damascus, to an unknown addressee, in Fustat. The letter is in Judaeo-Arabic and the address is in Arabic (the names of writer and addressee may be legible with further examination). The purpose of the letter is to remind the addressee of the love between them and to remind him of his promise to come stay in Damascus with the writer. On verso, in addition to the address, there are two medical prescriptions.

Medical prescription in Judaeo-Arabic.

Verso: Medical prescription in Arabic script.

Letter, fragmentary and calligraphic, regarding business. Mentionins dealings in corals, storax, and zaituni (silk), and merchants of the second half of the eleventh century (Joseph b. Farah Qabisi). On verso is a medical prescription in Arabic letters. Most likely the receiver of the business letter was a physician. Information from Goitein's note card. Possibly the same scribe as T-S NS J194.

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.