Treating with Birds: The Insights of Two Mamluk Sources about the Medical Benefits of Birds

Two important Mamluk sources that discuss animals, including birds, are the encyclopedic Masālik al-abṣār fī mamālik al-amṣār by al-ʿUmarī and al-Damīrī’s zoology book Ḥayāt al-ḥayawān. Although neither is a medical text, they both devote protracted parts to the medical benefits and pharmaceutical uses of birds. Since medicine, pharmacy, and dietetics were connected sciences correlated with human physical well-being and health, discussing birds primarily used as food necessitated the elucidation of their medical benefits and how to use them for treatment. Furthermore, the sources explained the usage of their parts, extracts, products, and droppings in both formal and folk medicine. This study explores the medical benefits of birds as presented in those two Mamluk sources to investigate the importance of substances of animal origin in the preparation of simple and compound medicines and folk remedies. Such an investigation can also shed light on other intellectual and social aspects of Mamluk society in Egypt