ELUCIDATION OF ISLAMIC DRUGS IN HUI-HUI-YAO-FANG - A LINGUISTIC AND PHARMACEUTICAL APPROACH

Hui Hui Yao Fang, an Islamic formulary, was probably the official form ulary of the Mongolian administration during the Yuan dynasty (13th-14 th century) in China. In the three chapters of prescriptions that rema in extant today, there are 517 Islamic drugs carrying Arabic or Persia n names, each with its Chinese transliteration. Chapter 12 deals with the 'wind' diseases, containing 199 Islamic drugs. In this research, 1 29 items were identified, and each of which was assigned to a definite taxon; these are the most frequently cited drugs in the formulary. Id entifications were corroborated by botanical, pharmacological and phon etic considerations. This exercise demonstrates the inherent affinity between Islamic and Chinese medicines. The reciprocal influence betwee n them greatly enriched the content of these two important bodies of d rug science, thus, setting a pattern for the synthesis of drug knowled ge and the regulation of therapeutic substances. Recognition of differ ent bodies of ethnomedicine is necessary in view of the fact that ther e is an increasing mobility of people today, who tend to bring with th em their drug knowledge.