Treatise on the Lemon: Medicinal Uses

The Treatise of the Principal Master, the Eminent and Perfect Scholar, the Outstanding, Unique Philosopher, the Israelite, to whom God has granted success from among the realm, and who is known as Ibn Jumay‘, on the Benefits of the Lemon.

Hibat Allāh said,

Most honourable brother and dear friend [ . . . ] you have spoken of your astonishment at the criticism levelled by certain people at the Egyptians for their liberal use of the lemon in many of their diseases, and their reliance upon it in the treatment of many of their illnesses, and this [criticism comes] despite the lemon’s manifest great benefits when it is used appropriately. And [you also speak] of the duplicity of the critics’ argument against the Egyptians that were the lemon to have as many benefits as they assume then the physicians of old would have mentioned it in their books and would not have ignored it or discarded it. And you have asked me to clarify the falseness of this duplicity by composing a treatise about it. Hence, I have written this treatise for you so that you do not think I would withhold anything from you. And I seek the aid of God from all that is foul and evil.

So, I would say that although the Ancients have provided us with the principles from which may be derived all the necessary knowledge about the efficacy and uses of drugs and by which the correctness of what others have derived about them may be tested, they did not mention all the drugs that the physicians of all lands make great use of today, and upon which they rely in most of their activities. Indeed, they did not even comprehend all the uses of the drugs which they did mention. Rather, some drugs they left out altogether and did not mention them, and they did not know certain properties of the drugs they did mention. [ . . . ]

He [Galen] also did not know about most of the medicinal beverages, syrups, and preserves, such as the beverages of lily, violet, or citron [utrujj], and their preserves, or the beverages of sorrel, pomegranate, or apple, and their syrups. Nor did he know many others of their ilk which are too many to enumerate in full.

Neither did Galen know about most of the medicinal foodstuffs which are relied upon for the nourishment of patients, such as a light sweet-and-sour stew, stew cooked in vinegar, stew cooked with pomegranate, stew cooked with rhubarb, stew cooked with vinegar grapes, stew cooked with barberries, or stew cooked with sumac, and their counterfeit dishes [muzawwarāt],¹ and which are many and ought not to be ignored. [ . . . ]

Indeed, had it not been for the fact that intelligent people with sublime natures from bygone days understood a little and wrote it down, which, in turn, was taken up by the next generation of people of correct understanding who refined it and added to it; and in sum, the Arts would not have come to perfection and completion, but rather would have disappeared and come to naught had it not been for the fact that great minds co-operated in deriving and bringing out knowledge, and that lofty thinkers supported one another in developing and producing conclusions from knowledge. [ . . . ]

In any case, the error of many people is to assume that the present is always something to be wary of and to be blamed, while the past is to be envied and favoured. [ . . . ]

Now, our discourse has almost diverted us from our purpose, so let us return to it, and say that since the Ancients, and in general, those who composed treatises, did not mention or fully enumerate all types of drugs, nor did they know nor comprehend all the properties of those drugs which they did know, as we have just explained, it is then necessary for the physician, when he comes to hear mention of a benefit or benefits attributed to a drug which he does not know, or to a drug which he knows, that he does not hasten to deny these benefits, for this is what the anxious and hasty, indeed the weak-minded and ignorant, person does. Rather, he should reflect upon it and thoroughly contemplate it and sufficiently examine its truth or falsehood and test it using the analogical principles and methods of practical experience which he has been spared the trouble of having to deduce by Galen who has instructed him to derive benefit from them and obtain results from them. Then, if its truth be proven, he should accept it, and if its impossibility is proven, he should reject it. And if no clear result is obtained, he should review it and examine it to the utmost. For it often occurs that a certain benefit is attributed to something that at first apprehension, one’s understanding would reject and one’s mind would shrink from accepting. But, on proper examination of its cause, and study of its justification and reason, its truth is proven and its reality established. [ . . . ]

Because of its bitter, astringent, and aromatic qualities, it strengthens the stomach and particularly its mouth, it arouses the appetite for food, aids good digestion, freshens the breath, stimulates and perfumes the belches, strengthens the heart, and rectifies the qualities of foul humours. It also has antidotal properties which counteract and purge the harm of poisons either imbibed or injected.²

This is what may be said of it when taken as a medicine. As a food, however, it is difficult to digest, slow to descend, and of little nutritive value, all of which is indicated by the hardness of its mass, the compactness of its bulk, the difficulty in chewing it, and the fact that its taste and odour remain in the belches for a long time.

Discourse on the Juice and Pulp of the Lemon

The lemon may be juiced and, in general, may be used after being peeled of its yellow outer rind until it has been stripped of it and nothing remains of it but the white thin skin which resembles the membrane of an egg.

The juice of the juiced peeled lemon is cold and dry in the third degree, whereas the juice of the unpeeled lemon is cold and dry at the end of the second degree or at the beginning of the third degree because the coldness of the juice of its pulp is overcome by the heat of the juice of the peel with which it is combined. Here we will only discuss the juice of the unpeeled lemon since that is what is generally used and is customary. [ . . . ]

In sum then, the benefits of the lemon are manifold and its uses are abundant, and it has no harmful properties to be feared, nor will it damage any member of the body except that it is not good for those whose nerves are weak and whose temperament is predominantly cold, and this is usually only when it is taken in isolation and used by itself without being mixed with anything to rectify that. However, its harm to the nerves is lesser and weaker than the harm that can be caused by vinegar. Hence, lemon became more appropriate than vinegar for the Egyptians because of the weakness of their stomachs and intestines which cannot bear the harm of vinegar, and indeed, lemon can take the place of vinegar in effectiveness, and it surpasses it due to its benefit for them, I mean, their stomachs and intestines. And it is for this reason that they prefer to drink the lemon and they make frequent use of it, and with their use of it, they dispense with the need for oxymel in many cases. [ . . . ]

When it is mixed with cold water and drunk, it dispels thirst and stimulates and revives the strength due to the nourishment it contains derived from the sugar as well as moderating the temperament and strengthening the internal organs. It cools the inflammation of the liver and the stomach and calms the intensity of acute fevers, particularly if some julep³ made from aromatic rose water is added to it and one or several grains of Qanṣūrī camphor is crumbled onto it, or a little resin of plantago seed is added, or the milk of certain cooling seeds such as the seed of purslane, or purging cassia, or the cucumber. It will also subdue the acute yellow bile when its acidity is prevalent and will extinguish its inflammation and calm its intensity, and will ease that which is required to be expelled by vomiting since it overcomes its qualities, its severity, and the discomfort caused by contact with it, and it will cleanse it away and remove the distress caused by it and the grief and vomiting caused by it and by the vapours of the black bile which are brought about by its fervour and burning. It will also calm palpitations caused during fevers and caused by hot humours particularly if taken with the aforementioned julep or with rose water itself. It is beneficial against the headache and vertigo and the obstructions caused by the ascent of its vapours, and it will stop vomiting and diarrhoea, and will extinguish the acuteness of the blood, and is effective against rashes and pustules both of the sanguinous and bilious type. It will also calm the intensity of a hangover.