The Kitāb al-Musta'īnī by Ibn Biklarish, written in the Moorish Spain province of al-Andalus at the end of the 11th century, includes the first tables of simple medicines written in the region, "concentrating on facing pages for each medicinal substance, all the information transmitted by the treatises on synonyms, substitutes and materia medica. To the practical advantage of rapid consultation—the reader can look up the names of the simple drugs alphabetically—is added the great diversity of the material presented, particularly where the substances of mineral and animal origin are concerned. The Tables, moreover, are preceded by an Introduction in four chapters containing the theories of simple and compound medicines" (Joëlle Ricordel, "The manuscript transmission of the Kitāb al-Musta'īnī...." p. 27 of this edition).