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New Genizah Documents 23*

drained it (11) after a few days of bloodletting with a pill of sweet violet54 to
no avail. (12) I apologize before you. And, likewise, serious eye inflammation.
(13) Regarding the eye — it has already started to form a crust and is infected
with eczema (14) in the eye, of the fourth kind. Likewise, a cut (15) similar to
that of the man to whom you prescribed a remedy, and already it (?) strikes him
(16) for the third time. And please inform me soon about something I can trust
upon, (17) concerning these three cases, without delay. (18) Please be kind and
send me a quarter ounce of black-lead collyrium55 from your stock (?) (19) for
all the collyrium your father keeps sending me is not beneficial.
[margins] (1) And I will be comforted (2) one day. And everything (3) that
you need from your servant (4) please honour me with it. (5) Receive for your
noble self the best greetings. (6) And to your mother and Abu al-Hasan (7)

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most profuse (8) greetings. (9) And don’t delay (10) your answer (11) for I am
(12) looking forward to receiving your grace.
(13) May I never be deprived of you and never miss (14) you!

[Written transversely to the text] (1y3) The elder Abu Zikri, may God prolong
your life. Hearing is not like seeing.56

[verso] (1) I hereby inform you, Sheikh Abu Zikri, how much I miss you. And
regarding what (2) [you have mentioned] about the eye diseases, which you
have described in detail, and these issues are very [...]. (3) And I’ve already

54 This is a purgative remedy, see O. Kahl, The Dispensatory of Ibn at-Tilm¯ıd (Brill, Leiden,
2007), recipe no. 34, 36 p. 59 (Arabic), 189y190 (English translation).

55 ashya¯f is an eye medicine, mentioned in many practical, as well as theoretical, Genziah
fragments; ashya¯f al-a¯ba¯r (pollen eye-powder) good for eye ulcers, soothing heat, and dull
eyes. Ingredients include burnt lead and copper, antimony, gum arabic, gum tragacanth,
ceruse, myrrh, opium, rainwater, frankincense. See L. Chipman, The World of Pharmacy
and Pharmacists in Mamlu¯k Cairo (Brill, Leiden, 2009). p. 237. See Kahl, The Dispensatory
(as in n. 54), recipe no. 268, p. 130 (Arabic), 263 (English translation).

56 We wish to thank Prof. M.A. Friedman for his assistance in deciphering the text and
explaining the phrase. See A. Sharoni, The Comprehensive Arabic-Hebrew Dictionary3,
(Tel-Aviv, 1999), p. 920.