Arabic in the Sciences
The Healing: On Minerals
الشفاء: المعادن
A chapter of Ibn Sina's Healing on how minerals form, translated by Alfred of Sareshel, was read in Europe for centuries as Aristotle's own words – until its source was identified in 1927.
- Author
- Ibn Sina (Avicenna) (d. 1037)
- Field
- Alchemy and minerals
- Arabic title
- كتابُ الشِّفاء – فصلٌ في المعادن والآثار العلويّة (من الطبيعيّات)
- Latin title
- De mineralibus / De congelatione et conglutinatione lapidum
Europe knew it under a name not its author's.
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Sources
- E. Rubino & S. Pagani, 'Il De mineralibus di Avicenna tradotto da Alfredo di Shareshill', Bulletin de philosophie médiévale 58 (2016), PhilArchive record
- J. R. Clark, 'Anonymous on Alchemy, Aristotle, and Creation', Traditio 61 (2006)
- Arabic and Latin Corpus (Würzburg): On Stones and Minerals, Latin (Alfred of Shareshill)
- Encyclopaedia Iranica, 'Avicenna xii. The impact of Avicenna's philosophical works on the West'
- Encyclopaedia Iranica, 'Avicenna viii. Mathematics and physical sciences' (mineral formation theories)
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