Or 15868 (Oriental Manuscripts, British Library)

A medical treatise in Persian by Ni‘mat Allāh, banda-’i Sultan Salīm, evidently composed for the Ottoman Sultan Salīm II (reg. 974-82/1566-74), who suffered from gout. It comprises a preface and introduction (muqaddimah), seven faṣls, and an epilogue (khātimah).

The introduction sets out (f 9r-v) the following plan for the work, but the author subsequently departed from it: Muqaddimah, on various ailments; faṣl 1, dar bayān-i dastūr-i akl va shurb-i ṣāḥib-i mafāṣil dar ayyām-i siḥḥatash: advice on food and drink for those with [gout affecting the] joints, when in good health; faṣl 2, dar ashyāyī kih iḥtirāz azān vājib ast: on things that must be avoided; faṣl 3, dar taqaddum-i ḥifẓ-i siḥḥat-i ānkas kih ‘ādat ba-‘urūż-i niqris dārad: a regimen for those who habitually suffer from gout; faṣl 4, dar qānūn-i ‘ilāj: principles of treatment; faṣl 5, dar ‘alāmāt va tashkhīṣ-i maraz̤ (symptoms and diagnosis of illnesses); faṣl 6, dar ‘ilājāt: remedies; khātimah, mushtamil bar favayid-i mutafarriqah: conclusion, containing various useful observations.

In the text itself, however, the plan of the work is as follows: preface, 3v-9v. Muqaddimah: 9v-15v. 1 (15v-18v): dar dustūr-i ma’ākil ve mashārib dar ayyām-i siḥḥatash: diet for when in good health. 2 (18v-19v): dar ashyāyī ki iḥtirāz azān vājib ast: things to be avoided. 3 (19v-21r): dar taqaddum-i ḥifẓ-i ṣiḥḥat: regimen appropriate to the seasons of the year (without specific reference to gout). 4 (21r-24v): dar qānūn-i ‘ilāj-i niqris: principles of treating gout. 5 (24v-25r): badānkih dar istidlāl az muvāfaqat-i īrād-i adviyah-’i bāridah yā ḥarrah bar ‘uz̤v iḥtiyāṭ-i tamām bāyad kard: the need for caution in deducing the nature of the illness according to whether the patient responds well to cold or to hot drugs. 6 (25r-25v): dar ‘alāmāt: symptoms. 7 (25v-35r): dar ‘ilājāt: remedies. Khātimah (35r-37v): conclusion.

Other contents: 1r, several inscriptions enclosed in cloudbands drawn in black ink: ornamental title, tamalluks of Muḥammad Amīn (dated 1178/1764-5), Ḥāfiẓ Muḥammad Sa‘īd, and (Kūrzādah?) Ḥasan al-Ṭabīb (dated [1]154/1741); 1v, more recent owner's inscription; 1r-3r, small round Ottoman seal impressions with ṭughrā; 37v, label describing the work as Miftāḥ al-abvāb dar mu‘ālajah-’i niqris and the copyist as Ni‘mat Allāh Ṭabīb.