8vo. vii, [2], 240 pp., publisher’s original wrappers, slightly faded, biblio, index, from Sudhoffs Archiv fur Geschichte der Medizin und der Naturwissenschaften (History of medicine and natural sciences), supplement 3, copy clean inside & in very good condition, Franz Steiner Verlag, Wiesbaden, 1964.

Synopsis

A study on the assimilation of Arabic medical literature in the West during the Middle Ages. The book is extremely well organised, grouping the diffused and widely disparate material methodically and systematically. It’s divided into two parts, the first dealing with the reception of Arabic medical literature in Salerno through the medium of Constantine’s translations, the reception of the new Aristotle and the assimilation of the Greco-Arabic medicine in Toledo. The second concerning itself with scholastic centres such as Chartres, Paris, Oxford and Palermo and the outstanding personalities at these centres who were responsible for the introduction of these new streams of thought into Western Culture. Within this framework Dr Schipperges displaying firm grasp of details, sketches in large outline, the salient characteristics of the literature which was brought to the notice of the West at that time. The book therefore, is eminently practical for those who wish to learn something of the broad basis on which Arabic scientific learning penetrated into the academic circles of Europe. [Cambridge Journal, Medical History, Vol 9, Issue 3].