Unlocking the Secrets of the John Ryland’s Manuscript Collection: A Digital Humanities Study of an Arabic Manuscript of Galen’s ‘On the Usefulness of the Parts of the Body’

Dr Kamran Karimullah, Lecturer in Islamic Thought at the University of Manchester, writes:

Nestled within the collections of the John Rylands Research Institute and Library in Manchester lies a hidden treasure of medical and philosophical history: Arabic MS 780, a rare Arabic manuscript of On the Usefulness of the Parts of the Body by the legendary Greek physician Galen of Pergamum (d. ca. 216 CE). Originally written in Greek, this remarkable work was translated into Arabic in ninth-century Baghdad by the renowned scholar Hunayn ibn Ishâq and his collaborator Hubaysh ibn al-Hasan. Today, this manuscript offers an invaluable glimpse into how ancient medical and teleological ideas influenced generations of scholars in the Islamic world. 

Despite its significance, MS 780 has remained largely unexplored since Emilie Savage-Smith’s 1969 edition and translation of Book Sixteen.¹ We wanted to change that by bringing this manuscript to life through modern digital tools and critical scholarship. To do this we assembled a dynamic group of scholars and technical expertise. Kamran Karimullah and Hammood Obaid, who are affiliated with the University of Manchester, provided the historical and linguistic expertise. Charlotte Hoare, Thomas Higgins and Ourania Karapasia, working at the John Rylands Research Institute and Library, provided the technical expertise and guidance that made this project a resounding success.

The Significance of Galen’s Work

Galen’s On the Usefulness of the Parts of the Body is more than just a study of human anatomy and physiology. It is a philosophical treatise that presents a teleological view of nature, arguing that each part of the human body is designed for an optimal function by a wise and powerful Creator. While Galen’s ideas shaped medieval European medicine through Greek and Latin texts, the Arabic translation played a crucial role in influencing Islamic theologians, philosophers, and jurists for centuries.

However, by the time of Ibn Sînâ (Avicenna, d. 1037 CE) and his Canon of Medicine, Galen’s work was gradually supplanted by newer medical texts. Yet, the teleological argument persisted, weaving its way into broader intellectual traditions. Given its historical impact, the lack of a comprehensive critical edition of the Arabic text is a major gap in scholarship—one this project wants to change.

Our Project Objectives 

The project focused on three key objectives: 

1. Metadata collection and display 
   • We provided a thorough description of Arabic MS 780, improving on Mingana’s early cataloguing from 1934.²
   • The metadata has been formatted in XML using TEI (Text Encoding Initiative) standards, ensuring it can be integrated into Manchester Digital Collections’ History of Medicine collection.
     
2. Collation of the text 
   • We collated Arabic MS 780 with other manuscripts held in libraries in Paris, Spain and the United States.
     
3. Digital transcription with folio images 
   • We created a normalized transcription of selected chapters from Arabic MS 780, formatted in XML using TEI.
   • This transcription is now displayed alongside digitized folio images in Manchester Digital Collections, making the text accessible to scholars and the public alike.

Bridging the Past and the Future 

This project not only revives a critical historical text but also enhances digital curation techniques for rare manuscripts. By integrating Arabic MS 780 into Manchester Digital Collections, we aim to preserve, study, and share this vital piece of intellectual history with a global audience.

Through a combination of historical research, digital humanities, and manuscript studies, our work will illuminate Galen’s lasting influence on medieval Islamic thought—an influence that continues to shape the philosophy of science today.

References

1. Savage-Smith, Emilie. Galen on Nerves, Veins and Arteries: A critical edition, edition and translation from the Arabic, with notes, glossary and in introductory essay, Ph.D. diss. University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1969. ↩︎
2. Mingana, Alphonse. Catalogue of the Arabic Manuscripts in the John Rylands Library, Manchester. Manchester Univ. Press, 1934. ↩︎