Anawati, "Al-Biruni," op. cit., 437-53, Eilhard Wiedemann (18521928), and J. Hell, Uber al-Biruni, Mitteilungen zur Gesch, der Med.
und Naturtvissensch, no. 48, vol. 11, no. 4 (1912), pp. 313—21; and
Hamarneh, "Polity in al-Biruni's Book al-Jamahir", Ihoceedings of the
International Conference on Science in Islamic Polity, Islamabad, Ministry of Science and Technology, vol. 2, November, 1983, pp. 40—45.
13. Ibn Manzur, Lisan al-'Arab, Cairo, Bulaq edition, vol. 3, pp. 287—
89, and S. Hamarneh, "Al-Biruni the father of pharmacy and marine
biology", Comm. Vol. op. cit., 1979. pp. 479—83. In this monograph,
al-Biruni's Al-Jamahir was consulted in several copies. The important
among them are; the Istanbul's Ahmad III, the El Escorial Ms. Ar. no.
905 referred to here by Casiri and others, and the Harvard's Houghton
Library Ms. Ar. 59 (or general no. 1386, which is a duplicate of the
above mentioned Ahmad III, no. 2047, completed in late Safar, A.H.
626/1228). But a ready reference was available in F. Krenkow's edition
at the Osmania Or. Bureau, Hyderabad, India 1936. It is a good edition; nonetheless it contains many serious errors and requires revision.
14. See Kitab al-Jamahir, Krenkow's Osmania edition, op. cit., pp. 2—9.
Also here one can reflect by referring to the monograph, An Essay
About The Origin and Virtue of Gems, authored by Robert Boyle,
London, 1672 (consulted in a fascimile reprinted in New York, Hafner,
1972), This work marks the beginning of chemical minerology and
modern geochemistry6 In it is realized the relations between crystal
form, and the chemical composition and structure derived mainly from
Greek and Arabic sources. It touches further on the aesthetic and protective powers found in the gemstones and the likes. Compare this with
Julius Ruska, "Al-Biruni on al-Razi's K. Sirr al-Asrar", Der Islam, 25
(1939), pp. 191-3.
15. According to Abu'l-Faraj Muh. b. Ishaq Ibn al-Nadim, Al-Fihrist
(completed in Baghdad about 377/987), Cairo, al-Sa'adah Press, A. H.
1348/1929, pp. 371-79, mentions certain 'Atarid b. Muh. al-Hasib
(3rd/9th century figure) to be considered as the first to write precisely
on the topics of lapidary in Islam (the text has not been examined by
me) which is entitled, Manafi'al-Ahjar, or K. al-Jawahir wa'l Ahjar, see
C. Brockelmann, G.A.L., op. cit., vol. 1; 282, Eilhard Wiedemann, "On
the sun and moon phenomena" (all in German) Der Islam, 4 (1913),
pp. 5—13; K. al-Jamahir, op. cit., pp. 30—32, Hamarneh, "Al-Kindi, a
ninth-century philosopher, physican and scholar", Medical History,
9(1965), pp. 328-42, F. Seizgin, G.S.A., op. cit., vol. 3; 244-47, and
J. Jolivet and Roshdy Rashid, "Al-Kindi", Diet, of Scient. Biography,
Suppl, vol. 15 (1978), pp. 261-67.
16. Sarton, George, Introduction, 1: 707—9, praises Beruni not only as
encyclopaedist, but also the greatest mind of his time. His critical spirit,
