Türk Nöroşirürji Dergisi 2015 , Vol 25 , Num 1
On Macrocephaly and Hydrocephaly in Tadbir al-Mawlud by Poet and Physician Şa‘bân Şifâ’î from Ayaş
Ahmet ACIDUMAN
Ankara Üniversitesi, Tıp Fakültesi, Tıp Tarihi ve Etik Anabilim Dalı, Ankara, Türkiye AIM: The aim of this study was to evaluate the chapters on macrocephaly and hydrocephalus in Tadbir al-mawlud (Management of child), accepted as the first book on pediatrics written in the Ottoman Empire.

MATERIAL and METHODS: A copy of Tadbir al-mawlud handwritten by the author and found at the İstanbul Suleymaniye Manuscript Library, Mihrişah Sultan Collection, Nr: 344 and another copy found at Ankara University, Library of Faculty of Divinity, Nr: 36106 were examined. The abovementioned chapters were transliterated into the contemporary Turkish alphabet, translated into modern Turkish and evaluated.

RESULTS: The sixth chapter of Tadbir al-mawlud is on pediatric illness and begins with head diseases. Macrocephaly and hydrocephalus, which were the subjects of this article, had been included in the head diseases section.

CONCLUSION: Although the information on macrocephaly and hydrocephalus written by Şa‘ban Şifa’i in Tadbir al-mawlud did not diff er from what his predecessors’ wrote, Tadbir al-mawlud is special because it is one of the rare works that contain these subjects in detail and in Turkish. Anahtar Kelimeler : Saban Sifai, Tadbir al-mawlud, Macrocephaly, Hydrocephalus, History of medicine, History of Turkish medicine