[Hygiene, diet and medicine in Arabic agricultural calendars]

The author studied nine arab agricultural calendars placed at intervals between the "Kitab al Azmina" or the "book of seasons" by Jean Mésué (9th c.) and a tunisian calendar of the 19th c. of andalusian origin (?). There is a clear relationship between these different calendars, all of them issued from an archetype lost to-day, which would have been a mixture of basic principles and traditions of different origins. One could no longer identify to-day with certainty but one could discern its preislamic tradition (the calendar system of the "anwa") babylonian tradition (the predictions extracted from astronomic, meteorologic or geologic events) and a greek tradition (the influence of the humoral theory). In matter of dietetic, these calendars real authentic almanachs do nothing but reproduce the hippocratic prescriptions. In matter of hygiene, they specify seasons for physical exercices, both as well as the perfumes to make use of. ...