QAJAR IRAN, 19TH CENTURY

In the introduction to this unusual manuscript, the author gives his name as Hassan bin Baqir bin Jarrah (the surgeon), who calls himself Isfahani in origin but is a resident of Tehran. The introduction praises various Qajar princes, namely ’Abbas Mirza, Mirza Hassan ’Ali and Zill al-Sultan as well as the Vizier Mirza Musa, who can probably be identified as Mirza Musa Munajjim-Bashi, Vizier to Hassan ’Ali in Khorasan while the latter was governor there. The author gives his age as 21 years and says that the aim of the work is to put together information on the parts of the human bodies, pills, plants, trees of the desert and the mountains, animals and birds, and to present the disposition of each. Next to the plants the Persian, French and Greek names are given and in the tables opposite the medicinal uses of the plants are listed.