( vi )
nardus Pisanus.” Such are the words with which Hieronymus Cardanus commences his Ars Magna, in which he frequently refers to the work here translated, in a manner to leave no doubt of its identity.
That he was not the inventor of the Art, is now well established; but that he was the first Mohammedan who wrote upon it, is to be found asserted in several Oriental writers. Haji Khalfa, in his bibliographical work, cites the initial words of the treatise now before us,[1] and
- ↑ I am indebted to the kindness of my friend Mr. Gustav Fluegel of Dresden, for a most interesting extract from this part of Haji Khalfa's work. Complete manuscript copies of the كشف الظنون are very scarce. The only two which I have hitherto had an opportunity of examining (the one bought in Egypt by Dr. Ehrenberg, and now deposited in the Royal Library at Berlin—the other among Rich's collection in the British Museum) are only abridgments of the original compilation, in which the quotation of the initial words of each work is generally omitted. The prospect of an edition and Latin translation of the complete original work, to be published by Mr. Fluegel, under the auspices of the Oriental Translation Committee, must under such circumstances be most gratifying to all friends of Asiatic Literature.
