0
THE CHEMICAL AND RELATED LITERATURE OF THE NEAR EAST' LEO 1. STEVENS Smith, Kline & French Laboratories, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
DURING the last few years it has become increasingly apparent t o chemists, particularly those concerned with literature, that it is advantageous t o know more about the chemical and related literature of foreign countries. Recognition of this need is evident in the number of papers on the subject read before recent meetings of the A.C.S. Division of Chemical Literature and, subsequently, published. Thus, the pertinent literature of Australia, France, Germany, Holland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Russia, Scandinavia, South America, Spain, and Switzerland has been discussed. The present paper will describe the chemical and related literature of the Near East, meaning Afghanistan, India, Iran (Persia), Iraq, Lebanon, Jordan, Pakistan, Syria, and Turkey. Israel, although undeniably a part of the Near East, is not included, since its literature has already been discussed hy Frank1 and Brown (1). HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT
India and Pakistan. A relatively highly developed culture is known to have existed several thousand years ago in the area now known as India and Pakistan. Hand in hand with that culture went a considerable amount of scientific knowledge and literature. Some of the so-called Vedas (sacred knowledge) may have been written as much as 5000 years ago (8). Among the Vedas are the classics of early Indian scientific literature called the Ayur-Vedas, meaning "Sciences of Life." This word also signifies the Hindu system of medicine. &ur-Vedan medicine has been preserved into modern times and is still being practiced in India today. The Ayur-Vedas contain references to medicine, pharmacy, botany, and chemistry. They may well be considered, therefore, to be the earliest chemical literature in India. Another section of the early Vedas called Rasayana deals with chemistry. Perhaps the most important of the Vedas are those of Susrata or Susruta. He was a great surgeon with a surprising knowledge of biology, pharmacy, and chemistry; for example, he described methods of preparing oxides, sulfates and chlorides of six metals, and used anesthetics to relieve pain (9). He divided his materia rnedica into 37 parts, according t o the diseases which the drugs he described were used to combat. He mentioned 700 vegetable drugs, including cannabis, ricinus, and aconite (8, 4). Susrata's life span and his contemporaries are not known accurately. The West first learned about him in 1823through Professor Wilson of Calcutta. His works were translated into Persian around A.D. Presented hofore the Division of Chemical Literature a t the 131st Meeting of the American Chemical Society, Miami, April, 1957. 306
850, and a modern translation appeared in Germany in 1844 (by Franz Hessler, Erlangen). It should he mentioned that most of the ancient Indian literature was written in Sanskrit. The language of the Vedas is often termed Vedic Sanskrit. Another important scientific writer of the early Hindu era was Charaka, who wrote voluminous hooks on medirine (120 chapters). He knew the use of emetics and purgatives and described many. Vrinda (about A.D. 950) noted the preparation of mercury sulfide (5). Before that t i e (early in the sixth century) Varihamihira in his Vrihat Samhitd explained the preparation of chemicals and of pain-relieving powders that may have contained a curare-like principle (5). Hindu chemists of the period mentioned also knew chemical processes such as distillation and sublimation and had a good knowledge of metallurgy. Patanjali (200 B.c.) and Nagarjuna (early Christian era) were pioneers in iron manufacture (Loha-Shastra or the "Science of Iron") (6). I t is interesting to note that the early Hindu scientists and writers had a liking for chemical theories. One, the Nyiya-Vaiseshika, dealt with molecules and atomic combinations many hundred years before any understanding of these things developed in the western world. This theory claimed that atoms are eternal, ultimate, indivisible, and infinitesimal (5). Of medieval Indian literature, the Rasarnava of the eleventh century is of interest as it describes a chemical laboratory and apparatus. Madanapala-Nighantu, written around 1374, is a treatise on drugs. Zinc is mentioned as a separate metal, anticipating by over a hundred years the revelations of Paracelsus (1493-1541) Finally, Rasa-Ratna-Samuchchaya, a treatise on metallurgic processes, should be mentioned. It was written in the fourteenth century (6). During the sixteenth aud the seventeenth centuries the Dutch arrived in India. Their explorations are reflected in the writings of Jacob Bontius (1598-1631), who was a pioneer in tropical medicine and the author of De Medicina Indorum, published in Holland in 1642. William Tiso (1611-78) m o t e De Indiae utruispue re naturali et medica (Amsterdam, 1658). Hendrick Adrian Van Rheedes (born about 1637) published Hortus Malabaricus, a work of 12 volumes, describing the flora of the Malabar Coast. George Eherhard Rumplius, better known as Plinius, has become known to posterity for his Books of Herbs of Ambaia, dealing with plants native t o the East Indies (7). The 300-year period of extensive colonization of India by the Dutch, French, British, and Portuguese yielded little in the field of chemical and related literature. JOURNAL OF CHEMICAL EDUCATION
Modern periodicals appeared in India first in the fields of clinical medicine and only much later in chemistry. Suffice to mention here that a medical journal, the Indian Medical Gazette, sta.rt,ed appearance in 1865 in Calcutta. The first purely chemical periodical in India may have been the Journal and Proceedings of the Institution of Chemists (India), which started publication in 1918, likewise in Calcutta. It was preceded, however, for a few years by the Proceedings of the Indian Academy of Sciences in Bangalore in 1912. The foundation of the Indian Chemical Society in 1924 was followed by the publication of its Journal, which is considered the most important chemical periodical in India. A great number of other chemical and related journals followed, and tbday the Indian chemical and related literature has assumed a noteworthy position in the world literature dealing with chemistry and related sciences. Pakistan, as is well known, became an independent state within the British Commonwealth of Nations in 1947. The development of scientific literature in that country, however, has proceeded only a t a slow pace. I n volume and importance, it is not equal t o the Indian scientific literature. Iran (Persia). Much less is known about ancient Persian scientific writing than we have learned about that of India. The Books of the Zard Auesta, the sixth of which is called Vendidad, describes old Persian medicine and is perhaps the oldest ( 8 ) . The Persians differentiated three kinds of doctors, the "Knife doctor," the "Herb doctor," and the "Exorcising doctor" (9). Alrazi (865-925), also known as Rhazes, was born in Ray outside of Teheran. He wrote Kitab-al-hcinini, later translated into Latin. He described some chemical experiments, and k n e ~ ~how . to make alcoholic beverages of the brandy type (10, 11). Rhazes was also instrumental in introducing the extensive use of mercurial ointment in the Arabic and western world (12). He possessed considerable chemical knowledge, and wrote a total of 113 major medical and scientific books (13 ) . Ibn-Sina, better known as Avicenna (978-1036), made a deep impact on the medical writing of Europe which persisted almost up t o the seventeenth century. He was still an influence in oriental medicine a t the b e ginning of the twentieth century (14). Avicenna wrote more than 100 books, among them the so-called Canon medicinae Auicennae (the Arabic title is QAnCim fi'l Fihb). Parts of the Canon deal with simple drugs and compounded remedies. Ali Ihn Rabban (about A.n. 850) wrote FerdawsulHikmat or "Paradise of Wisdom," of which only two manuscript copies are known to exist. One is in the British Museum in London. This work deals with medicine and also reviews Indian contemporary materia medica (13). Ali Ihn Abbas or Haly Abbas (994) is the author of Kitab-Al-Maliki, a medical encyclopedia, translated into Latin as Liber Regis, Regalis Dispositio
($1. Ibn Sarsbi, called Serapion junior, was horn in Persia or Spain in the eleventh or thirteenth centuiy. He wrote the Liber De Medicamantis Simplicibus or De Temperamentis Simplicium (2). VOLUME 35, NO. 6, JUNE, 1958
As the history of Persia shows, the importance of this country has greatly decreased since medieval times. This is reflected in the lack of significant scientific literature during the last eight hundred years. Today the country has gained importance again, and has a few universities and a nucleus of scientific life. Iran, as Persia is called now, has only a few scientific journals. Iraq and Syria (Babylonia and Assyria). The old areas and political entities known in history as Babylonia and Assyria closely correspond to the modern states of Iraq and Syria. Any discussion of scientific literature of the two latter countries automatically includes the ancient states. Thus scientific literature in that area may be considered to go back to 3500 B.c., to laws regulating the practice of pharmacy contained in the Code of Hammurabi. I n the library of King Ashurbanipal of Assyria, clay tablets from around 650 B.C. reveal knowledge of drugs, preparation of medicines, and pharmaceutical principles. The British scholar R. Campbell Thompson identified 250 vegetable and 120 mineral drugs from descriptions in these clay tablets (15). Thompson has discussed the chemical knowledge of the Assyrians in his Assyrian Herbal (16). I n the seventh century A.D.,Mohammedanism conquered the area under consideration, and during the medieval era little scientific writing was produced. However, Ibnal-Baitar, who died in Damascus in 1248, is worth mentioning, as he wrote Kitdb a1 Jdmi ("Book of Simple Drugs"), listing 145 mineral drugs, 130 animal drugs, and 1800 of vegetable origin. This author knew the process of distillation and applied it to the manufacture of rose waters (27). Also to he mentioned is Bar Hehraeus or Abul Faraq Gregorius, a physician, urho died in 1286. His writings were translated into Latin in 1663 and reedited by the Catholic Press in Beirut in 1890. Finally, Algazel (Ghazali) is of some importance. He lived in Baghdad around 1100 and advanced a "Theory of Fire" (oxidation). Other Countries. There is little evidence of much scientific activity in the rest of the Near East prior to recent times, although Istanbul University, founded in 1453, is one of the oldest in Europe. However, since World War I, Turkey has made great progress and now has several universities, and a sizeable number of scientific journals are published there. I n Lebanon, the American University, the French Faculty of Medicine and Pharmacy, and a few scientific journals are indications of increasing scientific activity. MODERN CHEMICAL LITERATURE
The volume of modern chemical and related literature of the Near East has not achieved much statistical importance. Boig and Howerton, in their analysis of the history and development of chemical periodicals, found India to he in the 12th place in 1950 in the number of abstracts of papers dealing with analytical chemistry published by Chemical Abstraets (18). I n 1949, Chemical Abstracts printed abstracts of 39 organic articles from the Journal of the Indian Chemical Society and 36 articles from the Proceedings of the Indian Academy of Sciences. I n the same year 927 organic articles were abstracted from the Journal of the American Chemical Society. I n 1949, also, two articles
mere abstracted from Turkish journals dealing with organic chemistry (19). Information concerning some academies, institutes, societies, and universities has been summarized in
Table 1. A limited number of periodicals selected on the basis of their importance are listed in Table 2. Patents of invention are granted by all governments of the countries covered in this paper (20). See Table 3.
",.""
Alohaniatan
India
Iron
Iraq
-
Afghan leademy, 1931 Academy of Soienoe, 1934
Iranian Icsdemy, 1935
Iraq Academy. 1940
Afshhn Inatitme of Technolom Pohantoon (KaResearch Institute of Kabul bull Univer-. sity, 1946 NatianhlChemioalLabor~tor~, Calcutta, 1857 India, 1950 Council of Science and Indus- Mhdraa trial Research, 1934 Central Drug Reaearch Insti- Delhi, 1922 tute 1951 ~ n d i a d Inetitute of Science. Jammu and Kas1911 mir. 1948 Bose Research Institute. 1917 Lucknow. 1921 Central Laboratories fo,r Soien- Trausncore, 1937 tific and Industrial Research, 1954 Indian Chemical Society. 1924, Bombay. 1857 550 membera Indian Medical Association, 1926. 14,000 members Indian Phsrmaoeutieal .4ssooiation society of Biolagicsl Chemists Institution of Chemiata Tabria 1947 Syndicate of Pharmacy ~ o c t o r ' Club s of Iran 1stahah (Msdioal Collepe). 1949 Teheran. 1935 l5cole Professionella Siw6ricure de Teheran Royal Medical Society Royal Faculty of Medicine. 1927 Institute of Scientific and In- College of Arta dustrial Rerearoh. 1936 an4 Science, 1949 Colle~?of Engineenng
Jordan
Tesoher's College
Ldonon
American Uoiversity Beirut. 1866 FrenchFaoultyof Medicine and Pharmacy, IS83 Hipilei School of Engineering, 1Y13
PaNslan
Syrio
Pakistan Asaocistion !or the Advanaement of Selenoe. 1947 Pakistan Medical Assmiation Central Laboratories of the Pakistan Couooil of Science and Industrial Researoh
Dacca,. 1921 Paniab, 1882 Sind. 1847 Karaehl, 1952 Peshawsr, 1950 Damascus, 1924
Arab Academy. 1919
Turkey
Turkish Bioloeioal Sooietv, Ankara. 1946 1949. 550 members Turkish Medical Society. 1856, Istanbul. 1453 312 members Turkiah Microbiological Technical UniSociety, 1931 versity of Istanbul. 1773 The Chemical Sooiety of Tur- Aegean Univerkey. 1919, 962 members sityof Smyrna. 1955 Turkish Society of Pharmaceu- Robert College. tical Chemistry 1863
TABLE 2 (22) Tala
I'uUiahed by:
Firs1 np,,aor-
AP
nncc
pcod
AFGHANISTAN
Ehteraat (Invention) Publieatians de la Facult4 den Sciences de l'Universit6 de Teheran Revue do la Facult6 da MOdioinc World of Medioine
308
1928 Q
New Delhi
1941 M
IRAN Bode ProfeasioneUe Superieure de Teheran Univereitv of Teherhn
>I h.1 1943
M
appear. anrc
1936
1950 1947
Beirut The Lebanese Pharmaoeutioal Journal Revue MOdioale du Mown-Orient Beirut-Paria Revue M6di~e.k et soi4ntifioue Beirut PAKISTAN Pakistan Aasoeiatl?n for the AdUniversity of Lahore. vancement of Somnoe. Annual Department of Report Chemistry Phkisthn Journal of Science (InUniversity of Lahore. eluded Pakistan Journal of Dephrtment of Scientific Research) Chemistry Pakistan Medical Journal Karaohl Sind Medioal Journal Karaohi SYRIA
aooiation, Calcutta Calcutta
Teheran Teheran
Publiahcd bv:
IRAQ Bulletin of the Institute of SeienBhghdad tifio and Industrial Researoh Journal of the Royal Faculty of Baghdad Medicine of 1"s" JORDAN Jordan Medical Journal .4mman LRBANON Le Journal MBdical Libanaise Beirut
INDIA Current Soienoe (Indi*) Current Soienoe Assoomtion of Bangalore Indian Journhl of Medioal Reaearoh Indian Journsl of Medical science Board of Indian Journal of Medical Sciences. Bombay Indian Journal of Pharmacy Bombay Indian Journal oi Phyaiolozy snd Physiological Sooiety. Allied Seiencea Caleutts Indian M e d m J Gaaette Calcutta Indian M e d i d Record ca10utta Indian Phe.rmacist Chleutts Indian Phyto~athology Indian Phytopathalogical society. New Delhi Indian Seienoe Abstracts Nhtiond Institute of seienoe International Medical Abstrhota Caloutth and Reviews dournel of the Indian Chemical Indian Chemical Sosooiety ciety, ca1outts (Industrial and N e w Edition) Indian Chomiesl So-
Assooiation Journal and Prooeedinge of the Institution of Chemiats (India) Journal of Scientific and Industrial Res_ear_oh(India). sections
Pirat
TIlle
I952
1951 1918 1949 1947
TURKEY Aota Medic* Turcica Q u a r t e r l ~ Bulletin of the An&ra Univeraity, Faculty of Medicine Biologi Turkiah Sooiety of Biology Chemistry s n d Industry Istanbul Farmskolo2 Society of Pharmaoeutical Chemists. Istanbul Revue de 1'Assw;iation Gdnerale dea Istanbul Chimiates de Turquie A et B Revue de ldFaoultd de Science des I'Univerait6 d'Iatanbul Khik Review of the General Assaoiation of Turkiah Chemists
2x
a
year
University of Istanbul Isthnbul Ankara
1935
* I, Irregularly: M, monthly; BM, bi-monthly: nually; SA, semi-annuslly; W, weekly.
Q, qusrterly:
M (A) 3 X a year (B)
1946
JOURNAL O F CHEMICAL EDUCATION
Al~hanialon
process
1-15
India Iran (Peraio)
Process Process
16 5.
Irop
~rooeas Prooeas Process Process Process Proeesa
15 16
22. 15,
.
Methodsfor making medicine Pharmaoeutieala
Z"
Jodan
Lebanon Pokislnn Swio Turkey
15
16 15
5. 10, 15
~harmaceuticala Pharmaoeutieab Pharmaoeuticsls Pharmaoeutieals
Gazette
of the office for the Protection of Industrial Property
LITERATURE CITED (1) . . BROWN.C. L.. AND J. FRANKL.J. CHEM. EDOC.. . 34.. 301 (1957'). "Higtorv of P h a r m ~ v .A (2) ~, KREMERS. , E.., AND G. URDANG. Guide and a Survey," 2nd kd., J. B. Lippincott "co., Philadelphia, 1951, pp. 5-6. (3) MLTTHU,J). C., "The Antiquity of Hindu Medicine," Paul B. Hoeber, Inc., New York, 1931. H., "Geschichte der Pharmazie," Berlin, 1904, (4) SCHELENZ, pp. 4661. (5) BRAJENDRANATH SEAL, "The Positive Sciences of the Ancient Hindus," Longmans, Green and Co., London, 1915. SARICAR, "Hindu Achievements in Exact (6) BENOYKUMAR Science, A Study in the History of Scientific Develop ment," Longmans, Green & Co., London, 1918. (7) REDDY,D. U. S., J. Hist. Med., 6, 258 (1951).
VOLUME 35, NO. 6, JUNE, 1958
A., "A History of Medicine," Alfred A. (8) CASTIGLIONI, Knopf, Inc., New York, 1941, p. 82. (9) LEIX, A., "The Medical Knowledge of Babylonia," Ciha Symposia 1-2,No. 1, 1940, pp. 675-81. (10) Chem. and Drug. .. 106, . 808 (1927); as quoted by KREMERS AND URDANG, lac. eil. (11) . RANKING.G. S. A,. XVIIth Intern. Conaess of Medicine. London, 1913,SLpt. 23, pp. 237-68 (19i4); as quoted h; XREMERB AND URDANG,1 0 ~ e.it. (12) CAMPBELL, D., "Arabian Medicine and Its Influence an the Middle Ages," London, 1926, Vol. 1, p. xi. (13) COLLE,H., "Heritage of Pharmacy in Asia," Vol. 1, "India, Persia and the Islamic World (Arabia)"; copyright by COLLE%cording to Act of Congre88, 1946, pp. 111-52. T., AND K. SUDHOFP,"Geschichte der (14) MEYER-STEINEG, Medi~inim Ueberhlick," Jem, 1921, p. 160. THOMPSON, R., "The Assyrian Herbal," London, (15) CAMPBELL 1924; "On the Chemistry of the Ancient Assyrians,' London, 1925; as quoted by KREMERSAND URDANO loc. cit. (16) CAMPBELL THOMPSON, R., "On the Chemistry of the Ancient Assyrians," London, 1925. , "Recent Publications on Egyptian and (17) T E ~ I N O., Babylonian Medicine," Bull. Inst. Hist. Med., John8 Hopkins Univ., 4, 247-56, 34147 (1936). Science, 115, 555-60 (18) Bolo, F. S., AND P. W. HOWERTON, 11952) - - - - ,. (19) Ibid., pp. 25-31. (20) WHITE, WM. W., AND B. G. RAYENBCROFT, "Patents Throughout the World," Trade Activities, Inc., New YO?^, i w . (21) "The Wodd of Learning," 6th ed., Europa Publicationn Ltd., London, 1955, pp. 443-69. (22) "List of Periodicals Abstracted by Chemical Abstracts." Am. Chem. Soe., Columbus, Ohio, 1956. (23) "The Middle East," 3rd ed., Europa Publications Ltd., London, 1953, p. 140. (24) "UNESCO--List des Travaux Scikntifiques Publib au Moyen Orient,'' 1951. \
