Pelagonius and Latin veterinary terminology in the Roman empire

documentary, artistic, and ethnographic material, and the range of topics considered is as wide as the scope of the Maqa-mdt itself; urban, rural and nomadic life, women, religious practices and beliefs, politics and law, trade, education and literary life, medicine, music, slavery, and customs of hospitality. Of particular interest to medical historians is the account of cupping (pp. 108-13), based on Maqama 47, where al-Hiarith, travelling in western Arabia, feels the need for this procedure and summons a cupper to his lodgings. Also valuable is the assessment of Maqama 39 (pp. 156-64), where al-H.arith and Abui Zayd land on an island in the Persian Gulf and encounter a ruler whose wife is about to give birth. But numerous other discussions, such as those on libraries, education, and women and the law, are also relevant to the concerns of medical history, if not medical in and of themselves. At times Guthrie's analysis seems to go too far. For example, the tendency for medieval artists to engage in idealized or stereotypical depiction makes it precarious to offer, as the author often does, judgements based on the implications of facial expressions, or the fact that people do not look "travel-strained or weary". It is also regrettable that she has chosen to omit many of the references (the reader is referred to the original thesis for these), as this means that important statements now very often remain unsubstantiated. As it is well known that there is a prominent autobiographical aspect to the Maqiamiat, it would have been useful to include more biographical informatibn on al-Hafifi himself in the Introduction for the benefit of the general reader. And a book as rich in important and useful information as this one certainly deserves a detailed index, as opposed to a cursory register almost entirely limited to personal and place names. What emerges from the book is a series of very lively and informative vignettes on a wide range of topics in medieval Islamic history, rather similar in style, if more limited in scope, to Mez's Die Renaissance des Islams (Heidelberg, 1922). This is of course something very different from a study of Arab social life in the Middle Ages, and the primary importance of Guthrie's work, apart from its contribution to the study of the Maqamat, may thus be regarded as lying in its usefulness as a means for illustrating various specific topics of interest to …