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The 15th Century Turkish Physician

Serefeddin Sabuncuoglu

Author of Cerrahiyetu l-Haniyye

by:

Salim Aydu

and

!sman Sabuncuoglu

The Turkish physician Serafeddin Sabuncuoglu (13851470) is he auhor of a fa!ous reaise ofsurgery" #errahiye$%l &aniyye ('!perial Surgery)" co!posed in Turkish in 145 ' *as he firsillusraed surgical alas and he las !a+or !edical encyclopedia fro! he 'sla!ic *orld Though hereaise *as largely based on ,l-.ahra*i%s ,l-Tasrif" Sabuncuoglu inroduced !any inno/aions ofhis o*n" a!ong *hich he inroducion of /ie*s in *hich *e see fe!ale surgeons illusraed for hefirs i!e 'n his aricle" r s!an Sabuncuoglu and r Sali! ,ydu2 presen he life and *orks ofhis original scholar and characerise he conens of his *orks

Dr. Osman Sabuncuoglu*and Dr. Salim Ayduz**

Table of conens

1"#iogra$hy

%"&orks

%"1"Cerr'hiyet( l-H'niyye%"%")(cerrebn'me%"*"Terceme-i Akrabadin

*"Anaesthesia techni+ues in Cerrahiye-i ,lhaniye

".eferences and further readings

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Figure 1:Illustration of treatment for "Ml-I-Huly" or cauterization for certain neurotic disorders. Reprinted with permission fromthe Fatih National Lirary! Istanul.

1iography

The full name of our $hysician is Sabuncuoglu Sharafaddin b" Ali b" al-Ha// ,ly's b" Sha0b'n al-Am's al-)utatabbib" He 2as born at Amasya around 1*35 and died at Amasya4 after 13" He 2as of Turkish originand li6ed in the !ttoman State during the time of its $rogressi6e e7$ansion in the 15thcentury" Hisgrandfather Ha//i ,lyas #eg 2as a $alace $hysician in #ursa during the Sultan 8elebi )ehmed reign 911*1%1;"

Amasya4 the hometo2n of Sabuncuoglu4 2as a centre of commerce4 culture and arts4 in northern Anatoliain 2hat is no2 Turkey" There is 6ery limited information about his early childhood life and education" Hestarted his medical career 2hen he 2as se6enteen years old4 2hen he took medical lessons from #urhan al-

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His book errahiyet#$l Haniyye9,m$erial Surgery; is the first e7am$le of an illustrated surgical te7tbook inthe Turkish and ,slamic medical literature" !nly three co$ies of the book sur6i6e today 9,stanbulni6ersitesi ,stanbul Ti$ Dak(ltesi Ti$ Tarihi 6e

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6orks

Sabuncuoglu is the author of se6eral medical 2orks4 all 2ritten in Turkish language4 testifying thus of thelinguistic shift that ha$$ened in the 1 thand 15thcenturies: the $rogressi6e transformation of Turkish4 butalso of Persian4 as languages of science and medicine4 besides Arabic4 2hich 2as almost the uni+ue

linguistic 6ehicle of kno2ledge in the ,slamic 2orld for centuries"

The list of Sabuncuoglu0s 2orks contain the follo2ing titles"

2.1.Cerrhiyet !l"#niyye

The errhiyet# l-Hniyye9,m$erial Surgery; 2as 2ritten in Turkish" ,t is a 2ell illustrated surgery book2ritten for Sultan )uhammad ,, and dedicated to him" ,t 2as com$osed in 154 2hen the author 2aseighty-three years old" The book is mainly the translation of the thirtieth cha$ter of the famous bookit/l-&asr0f li-man a1iza an al-ta$l0fby the Andalusian $hysician and medical 2riter Abu al-Kasim Al-Lahra2 9d" 1>*;E this cha$ter is de6oted to surgery" ,n addition4 Sabuncuoglu 2rote t2o more cha$ters

9fasil; and abundant illustrations of surgical instruments and o$eration scenes in the form of miniatures andillumination"

Figure $:'ome sur2ical instruments drawn y 'auncuo2lu. Reprinted with permission from the Fatih National Lirary! Istanul.

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,n the e7tant manuscri$ts of the errhiyet# l-Hniyye4 the book consists of three cha$ters di6ided into1?* sections" The latter deal 2ith all fields of surgery4 including o$hthalmology" The author +uoted rele6antBreek4 Arabic and Persian te7tbooks" He also added his o2n e7$eriences that he gained during his $racticeof surgery4 2hile treating $atients" His additions incor$orate original information on the sub/ect" Some ofhis ideas carry inno6ations of 2hich go back to the Central Asia Turkish-)ongol medicinal tradition andsome Dar Mast medicine e7$erience"

An im$ortant as$ect of the originality of the errhiyet# l-Hniyyerests u$on the inclusion of colourminiatures of the surgical $rocedures4 incision techni+ues and instruments4 all dra2n by Sabuncuogluhimself" #eside the surgical instruments dra2n by Al-Lahra2i in his book4 he added ne2 images about thetreatment of $atients that brought a ne2 6ie2 to the ,slamic medicine" These ne2 images indicate ho2 tomake a surgical o$eration and surgical inter6ention" The use of human images re$resented an im$ortantste$ in the history of the Turkish-,slamic medicine"

,n the e$ilogue of the book4 Sabuncuoglu e7$lains 2hy he 2rote this book in Turkish: N#u kitabi T(rkyadum" T(rk yadugum sol ecilden oldu kim a6m-i .Om T(rk dilin sylerler""""okuyanlari dahi T(rkkitablar okurlar"" 9, 2rote this book in Turkish" The reason is that the nation of the .um 9Anatolia; talks in

Turkish languageQ and the readers also read in Turkish languageN" Durthermore4 he added4 the surgeons2ho ignore Arabic cannot read the books 2ritten in Arabic and4 conse+uently4 cannot follo2 the $rogress ofmedicine4 2hich may result in making mistakes in o$erations they conduct" He said also that it is necessaryto 2rite academic books to introduce himself to Sultan )uhammed ,, and to take the attention of the sultan"He s$ecified that )uhammed ,, liked scientific books and also su$$orted science at that $eriod of time"

Figure %:&he instruments necessary for e3tractin2 the foetus. Reprinted with permission from the Fatih National Lirary! Istanul!&ur4ey.

The errhiyet#$l-Hniyyecould also be considered as an im$ortant $aediatric surgical atlas" ,ts colourful4descri$ti6e $ictures of 6arious o$erations and surgical instruments make it a significant $iece of 2ork" Thisim$ortant te7tbook combines kno2ledge of Breek4 Arabic4 and Turkish surgery techni+ues and nourishes

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the basic conce$ts in this s$ecialty4 2ith Sabuncuoglu0s original contributions on surgical $rocedures4$osto$erati6e care4 and surgical instruments" Thus4 Breek4 Arabic4 and Turkish surgery combinede7traordinarily in his book"

This book is also im$ortant due to its anatomy sections and the richness of the medical terminology used in

it4 $articularly Turkish medical terminology" ,t also echoes of the Anatolian Turkish features of that time"&e find in the book that 6o2els $oints 2ere carefully added" Dor the history of the Anatolian Turkishlanguage4 the book is also a significant source for the roots4 6ocabulary and grammatical structure of thislanguage in the mid-15thcentury" #eside the language features4 the images are also a 6ery im$ortant sourcefor the historians of Turkish art"

Figure &:&reatment of a chronic flu3 of itter tears into the eyes 5hyper-lachrymation,. Rreprinted with permission from the FatihNational Lirary! Istanul.

,n the field of medical kno2ledge4 the errhiyet#$l-Hniyyere$resents the le6el of the Turkish surgeryduring the 15thcentury" The book e7$lains the reasons of diseases" Dor instance4 concerning the NHumoralPathologyN 2hich 2as common at that time4 he refers scholars such as Hi$$ocrates4 ,bn Sina4 Balen and Al-Lahra2i"

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The Drench national library in Paris 9#iblioth+ue =ationale4 Su$$lRment Turc4 )S ?*4 %>5 folios; holdsthe original co$y of errhiyet#$l-Hniyyededicated to the Sultan )uhammed ,, and 2ritten bySabuncuoglu himself" ,n addition4 there are t2o more co$ies in ,stanbul libraries: in the ,stanbul =ationalFibrary of Datih and Ca$a )edical History

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Figure ':Fi2ures of treatment of %arious illnesses. Reprinted with permission from the Fatih National Lirary! Istanul.

A$$arently4 Sabuncuoglu did not $ractice as a surgeon but as a general $hysician ca$able of treating allkinds of medical surgical conditions4 including $sychiatric ones" ,n the follo2ing centuries4 AmasyaHos$ital 2here he $racticed e6ol6ed from a general hos$ital into one $ro6iding ser6ices only to mentally ill$eo$le and remained so for a long time"

Along 2ith his $ioneering 2ork4 Sabuncuoglu deser6es attention and recognition for his $rofessional+ualities as a modest researcher4 a fine clinician4 and a de6oted medical educator 2ith high ethicalstandards" =o doubt4 his ad6ice to colleagues is still 6alid today4 regardless of their s$ecialty: Nee$ your

com$assion se$arate from your fame and ambitionNI*J"

2.2.(cerrebnme

After his 2orks at Amasya

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The book consists of se6enteen cha$ters" ,t starts from the most common drugs and ends 2ith the less usedones" This is a 6ery im$ortant $harmacology book on the history of medicine 2hich e7$lains ho2 to useand in 2hich case you ha6e take these $ills4 drugs4 syru$s4 dust4 $aste4 $laster4 enemata etc"" ,t can be saidthat this book is the first em$irical book on the sub/ect"

2.$.)erceme"i Arabadin

The third book by Sabuncuoglu is &erceme-i /4raadin9Translation of $harmacology;4 in thirty threecha$ters 9S(leymaniye Fibrary4 Datih4 )S *5*4 %*? folios;" ,t is a Turkish translation of the $harmacology$art in Abu ,brahim al-ur/'n0s Arabic book 6ah0re-i Harezmshh04 2hich is the tenth and last cha$ter ofthe book" Sabuncuoglu carried on this translation u$on the re+uest of the $hysician Sheikh )ehmed b"Ahmed of Prince #ayeid 2ho 2as $rince at that time in Amasya4 in 1" the author added t2o morecha$ters to the original book4 2hich has only thirty-one cha$ters" He also added Arabic4 Persian andTurkish medical 2ords and technical terms"

Figure +:&reatment of lu3ation of the ac4 %erterae. Reprinted with permission from the Fatih National Lirary! Istanul.

,n the e$ilogue of the book4 he e7$lains 2hy he translated this book into Turkish saying: N"""ir' kim ilm-itibbin kit'blari D'ris 6e T' dilinde d((lmisd(r" .Om ehl(n(n ekseri Arab 6e D'ris dil(n bilmey($ 'ci6e 'til olmuslardiN 9because most of the medical books 2ere 2ritten in the Persian and Tai languages4

most of the Anatolians do not understand these languages4 and they became useless;"

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Sharafaddin Sabuncuoglu 2as also a good calligra$her and he co$ied one of his students4 )uhiddin )eh4lyric bookNazm al-tash0land Halm0s Persian lyric medical book"

3,naeshesia echniues in Cerrahiye"i ,lhaniye

Serafeddin Sabuncuoglu o$erated throughout the human body 2ell before the de6elo$ment of steriletechni+ue and modern anaesthesia" He used a combination of mandrake root and almond oil for analgesiaand general anaesthesia" )andrake 9mandra2ora officinarum L"4 of the nightshade family ISolanaceaeJ; hasthe general $ro$erties of belladonna and 2as formerly used as a narcotic and sedati6e" ,t contains thealkaloids mandragorine4 hyoscyamine4 and sco$olamine" The kno2ledge of medicine and $harmacy inAnatolian Sel/uk0s 4 *?" Ce6at ,gi4 7smanli Medreselerinde Ilim4 ,satnbul 1??34 ,4 s" GG"

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History of the literature of medical sciences durin2 the 7ttoman period4 ed" M" ,hsanoglu" ,stanbul:,.C,CA4 %>>34 ,4 5->"

H(seyin H(s'meddin4/masya &arihi4 ,stanbul 1*%34 ,4 1%54 1G%"

,brahim #asagaoglu4 S" araca4 Liya Salihoglu4 NAnaesthesia techni+ues in the fifteenth Centuryby Serafeddin Sabuncuoglu"N/nesth /nal24 %>>:1>%:1%3G-??"

,lter el4 errhiyet#$l-Hniyye4 Ankara 1??%4 $$" %>-*"

adircan eskinbora4 NTurkish: The language of science in Anatolia bet2een 1*thand15thcenturiesN4 AI. Bluslararasi r4 8ili urultayi4 %>-%5 !ctober %>>34 Turkey"

!sman Se6ki4 @es @uCu4 /sirli4 r4 &aaeti &arihi4 ,stanbul 1*1V1?%54 $" 15?"

.amaan Sesen4Fihris# Mahtutat#$l-tii$l-Islmi4 $$" %G-%G5"

S" =" Cenk #uyukunal and =il Sari4Serafeddin Sabuncuoglu4 the Author of the Marliest PaediatricSurgical Atlas: errahiye-i Ilhaniye 9$ublished G Se$tember %>>5;"

S"=" #(y(k(nal and =" Sari4 NSerafeddin Sabuncuoglu4 the author of the earliest $ediatric surgicalatlas: Cerrahiye-i ,lhaniyeN4 ? 9ediatr 'ur2ery4 1??1E%:113-51"

S(heyl n6er4 N#es Asirlik #ir Cerrahi itabimiN4 @elediye Mecmuasi4 nr" G?4 ,stanbul 1?*14 ?-1%"

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