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This volume contains an encyclopaedic treatise on materia medica by the physician and poet Bursalı Hekim Ali Efendi (died 1146 AH/1733 CE), known as Ali Münşi. The work is dedicated to Sultan Mahmud I (ruled 1143-1168 AH/1730-1754 CE).

Although likely born in Istanbul, he was known as Bursalı Ali since he resided in the city for much of his life. After completing his medrese education, he studied medicine with Ömer Şifai Dede, a Mevlevi hekim (physician) at Bursa’s Yıldırım Darüşşifası. He then served as a müderris in Istanbul, at the same time quickly gaining renown for his skill in medicine. He became a palace physician, and was subsequently awarded the position of Chief Physician (Başhekim) of the Galata Sarayı Hastalar Dairesi. He passed away at a young age, and was buried in Üsküdar.

Ali Münşi wrote a number of medical treatises, including Cerrahname, Kuradatü’l-kimya, Risale-i Fevaid-i Narcil-i Bahri, Risale-i Pâdzehir, and Tuhfe-i Aliyye, and was proficient in a number of Eastern and Western languages. He was a practitioner of iatrochemistry (chemical medicine), a system combining medicine, physiology, and chemistry advocated by Paracelcus (1493-1541 CE). The latter was a controversial figure who openly disparaged traditional medicine. He was ‘the first to treat his patients with chemical medications which included poisonous ingredients,’ a type of therapeutics that was ‘far removed from the humanistic botanical tradition that stood at the root of Muslim(-Ottoman) medical theory and practice’ (Shefer 2011, 109). His ideas first gained popularity in the Ottoman Empire in the second half of the eleventh century AH/seventeenth century CE, led by Salih bin Nasrallah of Aleppo (died 1081 AH/1670 CE). The popularity of iatrochemistry endured in the twelfth century AH/eighteenth century CE Empire, with Ali Münşi at its forefront.

Ali Münşi completed the Bidaat in 1143-4 AH/1731 CE. The work concentrates on compound medicines, giving the compositions and descriptions of various medicines in alphabetical order. He recommends various chemical medicines, including silver and antimony and the compounds of each. He also suggests drugs prepared from copper, gold, tin, lead, zinc, and their compounds.

There is a table of contents on ff 2v-9v of the present manuscript. There are ornamental headings in red ink on f 2v, a fine illuminated heading of gilt and polychrome on 11v, and gilt ruled margins on 11v-12r.

There is no colophon, however this copy probably dates from the later 12th century AH/18th century CE.