Avicenna: Father of Modern Medicine

Avicenna (980-1037 AD) was a renowned Persian physician, who is regarded as the one of the greatest scholars of the Islamic Golden Age. He was also one of the most influential philosophers of the pre-modern era (Middle Ages), whose teachings extended beyond medicine into astronomy, alchemy, geography, psychology, poetry, and philosophy. Avicenna is the Latinized version of the Arabic name, Ibn Sina, which means Son of Sina. His formal Arabic name was quite a mouthful: Abū ʿAlī al-Ḥusayn ibn ʿAbdillāh ibn al-Ḥasan ibn ʿAlī ibn Sīnā.

Rather than make any new medical discoveries, Avicenna studied the Greco-Roman, Persian and ancient Indian texts widely, and helped bring their teachings into the western world, eventually forming the basis of modern medicine. He and other Arab scholars extensively studied Indian mathematical systems, astronomy, and medicine and combined them with Greco-Roman teachings, particularly that of Galen. Avicenna wrote two famous books, The Book of Healing and The Canon of Medicine, that became the standard textbooks for medical students for many centuries. The latter, written in 1025, is considered one of, if not the most, famous books in the history of medicine.

The Canon of Medicine

Avicenna was most strongly influenced by Galen’s work, but combined it with Aristotle’s natural philosophy, and also other ancient medical knowledge to write his Canon of Medicine, which is regarded as a clear and concise encyclopedia of all medical knowledge in his time. Unlike Galen’s 20 volumes, Avicenna’s encyclopedia of medicine consisting of 5 books was a much more concise reference that still covered all aspects of medicine.

Comments

Origin of the Word "Cancer"

In my previous post, I explored the history of cancer. Since we know it existed in ancient times, it follows that so did its name. In fact, the name "cancer" was coined by none other than the great Hippocrates (well, not the exact name but the root of the name). Hippocrates in fact, used two terms, carcinoma and carcinos, to describe ulcerous and non-ulcerous tumors respectively. He named the tumors after Carcinus (or Karkinos), a giant crab in Greek mythology that was sent by the Goddess Hera to help Hydra fight against Hercules. As to why Hippocrates chose to name the tumor after a crab is not quite clear but there are several theories: - The hardness of a malignant tumor reminded him of the hard shell of a crab. - The pain induced by a malignant tumor is similar to a sharp pinch of a crab's claw. - The tenacity of cancer is similar to the determination with which a crab bites and grabs on to a person....

Hippocrates: Father of Medicine

Another important person in Greek medicine is Hippocrates. Hippocrates is considered the father of modern medicine who continues to influence medicine more than 2000 years later. Although he is as revered as Asclepius, they have very different origins. While Asclepius is a mythological character, considered to be descended from God, Hippocrates is very much a historical figure, whose origin and life is recorded in history. Hippocrates lived from 460 to 375 BCE during the Classical Greece period and practiced medicine in Greece. His contribution to western medicine is rivaled by none other, and his collection of works covers almost every aspect of disease and medicine including infection, hygiene, epidemiology and the human immune system. Bust of Hippocrates Also, unlike Asclepius, Hippocrates practiced medicine as a science, not as divine magic. He was one of the first to separate religion from medicine, and sought to match treatment with symptoms. His observations in the ...

Rx Symbol

Have you ever wondered why medicines are denoted with an ℞ or Rx symbol? There are actually many theories about its origin but the most common one is that the symbol for prescriptions originated from the "Eye of Horus", which was an ancient Egyptian symbol associated with healing powers. According to Egyptian mythology, Horus lost his eye in battle but his mom used her powers to restore his eye, hence it became a symbol of healing. Eye of Horus In the 2 nd century, Greek physician Galen adapted this symbol to impress his patients. Galen’s influence on medicine was so strong that even the symbol was borrowed through the centuries and it eventually evolved into the modern symbol Rx (the eye of Horus kinda looks like an Rx). Other theories place its origin in Latin and Roman times. One theory is that Rx was used as an abbreviation of the Latin word recipere , meaning “to prepare,” which physicians wrote on medical prescriptions. Yet another theory points to the similarity of...

History of Medicine

Search This Blog