Note 6 — 10th-Century Surgical Treatise

Fielding H. Garrison (An Introduction of the History of Medicine, ed. 4, rev., Philadelphia, 1929, p. 132), states, in reference to "Sudhoff and others," that many drawings earlier than those of al-Zahrāwī have been discovered in medieval manuscripts. However, Garrison overlooked the fact that al-Zahrāwī’s surgical illustrations were mainly depicted for instructional purposes—a unique approach. It should be noted also that al-Zahrāwī died almost a century earlier than Garrison thought. See also Martin S. Spink, "Arabian Gynaecological, Obstetrical and Genito-Urinary Practice Illustrated from Albucasis," Proceedings of the Royal Society of Medicine, 1937, vol. 30, p. 654.