Caslari, Abraham Ben David

Physician; lived at Besalu, Catalonia, in the first half of the fourteenth century. Caslari was considered one of the most skilful physicians of his time. He was the teacher of Moses Narboni of Perpignan, and one of the ten notables to whom, in 1323, Kalonymus ben Kalonymus of Arles addressed his treatise on morals, entitled, "Eben Boḥan" (Touchstone).

Abraham was the author of the following medical works, still extant in manuscript: (1) "'Aleh Ra'anan" (Verdant Leaf), or, as it is quoted by Judah ben Natan, "'Aleh ha-Refu'ah" (The Leaf of Healing), a treatise on fevers, divided into five books, completed Nov., 1326 (Parma MS. No. 946). The author says that he wrote the book at the request of his friends, who wished to possess a vade mecum on these matters. (2) "Ma'mar be-Ḳaddaḥot ha-Debriyot u-Mine ha-Ḳaddaḥat," a treatise on pestilential and other fevers, composed in 1349, when the Black Death decimated the populations of Provence, Catalonia, and Aragon (Bibl. Nat., Paris, MS. No. 1191, 7). (3) "Dine ha-Haḳḳazah" (Rules for Bleeding), Turin MS. No. 121. (4) "Mekalkel Maḥalah" (Who Sustains in Sickness), only an extract from which has been preserved (Neubauer, "Cat. Bodl. Hebr. MS." No. 2142, 39). He is also said to have translated into Latin the "Antidotarium" of Razi. The "Book of Foods," written by Isaac Israeli the Elder, is falsely ascribed to Caslari. Profiat Duran Efodi of Perpignan, called in Hebrew "Isaac b. Moses ha-Levi," borrowed from Caslari the astronomic note which he cites in his commentary on the "MorehNebukim" of Maimonides (i. 72). He is also mentioned by Nissim Gerondi (Responsa, No. 33).

Bibliography:

  * Steinschneider, in Virchow's Archiv, xl. 122;
  * idem, Hebr. Uebers. p. 779;
  * Renan-Neubauer, Les Ecrivains Juifs Français, pp. 644 et seq.;
  * Gross, Gallia Judaica, p. 619;
  * Carmoly, Histoire des Médecins Juifs, p. 102.



G. S. K. I. Br.