Avicenna: An Ancient Practitioner of wet cupping
Wet cupping was also practiced by famous Arab physicians such as Al-Razi, (865-925) or as he was known in the west, “Rhazes” and Ibn Sina, or as he’s best known in the west, “Avicenna”. Avicenna (August 980 – June 1037) was a Persian polymath who is regarded as one of the most significant thinkers and writers of the Islamic Golden Age. Indeed, of the 450 works he is known to have written, around 240 have survived, including 150 on philosophy and 40 on medicine.
His most famous works are, ‘The Book of Healing’, a vast philosophical and scientific encyclopedia, and ‘The Canon of Medicine’, an overview of all aspects of medicine that became a standard medical text at many medieval universities
…show more content…
The study of the Quran and the Hadith thrived in such a scholarly atmosphere. Philosophy, Fiqh and theology (kalaam) were further developed, most noticeably by Avicenna and his opponents.
About 100 treatises were ultimately ascribed to Avicenna. Some of them are tracts of a few pages. Others are works extending through several volumes. His 14-volume The Canon of Medicine (al-Qanun fi al-tibb, The Laws of Medicine) was a standard medical text in Europe and the Islamic world until the 17th century.
The book is known for its description of contagious diseases and sexually transmitted diseases, quarantine to limit the spread of infectious diseases, and testing of medicines. Like the Greeks, Avicenna supported the miasma theory of disease, which postulates that vapors in the air are the cause of epidemics. It classifies and describes diseases and outlines their assumed causes. Hygiene, simple and complex medicines, and functions of parts of the body are also covered. The Canon agrees with Aristotle (and disagrees with Hippocrates) that tuberculosis was contagious, a fact which was not universally accepted in Europe until centuries later. It also describes the symptoms and complications of
…show more content…
Unani also concerns itself with “elements”, as has been explained in ‘Body Image, Human Reproduction and Birth Control’ by Dr. Robin D Tribhuwan & Dr. Benazir D. Patil: “Unani medicine has similarities to Ayurveda. Both are based on theory of the presence of the elements (in Unani, they are considered to be fire, water, earth and air) in the human body. (The elements, attributed to the philosopher Empedocles, determined the way of thinking in Medieval Europe.) According to followers of Unani medicine, these elements are present in different fluids and their balance leads to health and their imbalance leads to illness. The theory postulates the presence of blood, phlegm, yellow bile and black bile in the human body. Each person's unique mixture of these substances determines his Mizaj (temperament). A predominance of blood gives a sanguine temperament; a predominance of phlegm makes one phlegmatic; yellow bile, bilious (or choleric); and black bile,
Beginning around 460 BC, the concept of humoralism emerged throughout the written works of Hippocrates. These early works, some of the only medical works of this detailed nature to survive this period, delineated one of the first ways scholars and physicians viewed the body and more importantly illness. Shaped by the Hippocratics’ version of humoralism and his own interpretations of their written works, Galen resolutely supported the fundamental four-element theory, the notion of the four humors, and the essential practice of healing by applying opposites by physicians. However, Galen’s education in anatomy proved an effective advance in his medical reasoning away from a non-ontological view of illness into a considerably more ontological and
In modern medicine when an ailment arises it can be quickly diagnosed, attributed to a precise bacteria, virus, or body system, and treated with medication, surgery or therapy. During the time before rational medical thought, this streamlined system of treatment was unheard of, and all complaints were attributed to the will of the multitude of commonly worshiped Greek gods (Greek Medicine 1). It was during the period of Greek rationalism that a perceptible change in thought was manifested in the attitudes towards treating disease. Ancient Greece is often associated with its many brilliant philosophers, and these great thinkers were some of the first innovators to make major developments in astrology, physics, math and even medicine. Among these academics was Hippocrates, one of the first e...
Doctors believed the human body was part of the universe, so they used elements for each humour, “Yellow bile was the equivalent of fire. Phlegm was the equivalent of water. Black bile was the equivalent of earth and blood was the equivalent of air”(“Shakespearean and Elizabethan Medicine”). Also, because of their beliefs and lack of knowledge on serious medical conditions, most severe cases were not treated accurately. Some doctors believed if a person broke a bone, then it was never supposed to be used again because the accident was based from many sins of the soul (“Shakespearean and Elizabethan Medicine”).
Works Cited Ross, Maggi “Science and Health” Elizabethan.org/. N.p. 26 Mar 2008 Web 17 Jan 2014 Alchin, Linda. “Elizabethan Medicine and Illnesses” www.elizabethan-era.org. UK. The. N. P. 16
The Islamic Empire explored natural philosophy and employed these understandings in instrumentality. They accumulated the natural philosophy of other cultures and expanded on their ideas in accordance with practicality. The Islamic Empire was the most advanced scientific nation for 500 years but declined because there was not much need for improvement in functioning. Career scientist only existed amongst the rich. The Islamic Empire is focused on the instrumentality of science, but even with the pronounced focus of instrumentality, the Islamic Empire experienced a dynamic between the dichotomy of instrumentality and natural philosophy, each seemingly distinct branch of science ebbing and flowing with the support and advancement of one another.
Fakhry, M. 1997. Islamic Philosophy, Theology and Mysticism: A Short Introdu ction. Oxford: One World Publications.
Although he lived four centuries before the birth of Christ, a man named Hippocrates recorded the symptoms of diseases we still see to this day. Known as the “Father of Medicine” (Hippocrates), Hippocrates was an ancient physician who studied and recorded his observances of the body’s infections and physiology. He set forth the foundation for future physicians, and in doing so, is accredited for our knowledge of infectious diseases in earlier centuries. During this time however, many believed the earth and its inhabitants were composed of four general elements: air, water, fire, and dirt. They also believed that any one person who fell ill was being punished by the gods. As a foresighted thinker though, Hippocrates encouraged the idea that humans became ill due to natural causes. In that wisdom, he recorded all his observances of his patients and their illnesses, taking careful note of the bodily symptoms and their progression.
Shwetha Srinivasan Core 1 Medieval Medicine Medicine in medieval times was not effective and very pointless, but is the main reason we have so much knowledge today. The middle ages was a time of desperation and darkness which eventually turned to light and rebirth. The knowledge in this time was snowballing. Medicine was the main part of that growth. Medieval medicine can be defined simply by its physicians, their discoveries, surgery techniques, and common diseases and treatments.
There are many roles that were played to raise the potential for changes in the book of medicine. There were women, men, doctors, theorists, apprentices, herbalists, and more who have contributed to the rise of modern medicine. Their pitch in trying to find new ways to explain or enhance their outdated ways of healing patients impacted the many generations who will change the medicine world as they did.
Today doctors can treat this disease with minimal efforts, however, during the 14th century very few weren’t sure on how this disease actually spread and therefore didn’t know how to treat it. Physicians used to practice crude and unorthodox techniqu...
Hippocrates used his knowledge of natural healing to help many people recover from what ails them in an attempt to; also, learn more of people’s sicknesses. Hippocrates once thoroughly examined the king of Macedonia, who was very sick at the time, and aided him in “recovering from tuberculosis”- which he did recover from (World Biography, 4).
Siraisi, Nancy G. Medieval and early Renaissance medicine: an introduction to knowledge and practice. University of Chicago Press, 2009.
Hippocrates, often called the “father of medicine” was one of the earliest contributors to modern science. He was called the father of medicine because through his medical school, he separated medical knowledge and practice from myth and superstition basing them instead of fact, observation, and clinical ...
Avicenna was born in August 980 in the area now known as Uzbekistan in a village called Kharmaithan. Some time later he and his father moved to Bukhara, the capital of the Samanid Empire. There he learned from his father and self taught himself the mysteries of the universe. He was definitely a gifted child because, “By the age of ten he had memorized the Qur'an and most of the Arabic poetry which he had read. When ibn Sina reached the age of thirteen he began to study medicine and he had mastered that subject by the age of sixteen when he began to treat patients. He also studied logic and metaphysics, receiving instruction from some of the best teachers of his day, but in all areas he continued his studies on his own.” (University of St. Andrews). Avicenna even cured the Sultan of a disease, which gained him access to the Loyal Library of the Samanids, which skyrocketed his intelligence and introduced him to many new subjects. At the age of 21 Avicenna began writing books such as on ethics, al-Birr wa al-Ithm (Good Work and Evil) and comprehensiveness, Majmu, (Compendium) which he never made copies of. His life immediately changed when his father died near 1000 A.D. and so in order to make money of hi...
Abu Al-Walid Muhammad Ibn Ahmad Ibn Rushd, known in Latin as Averroes, was one of the most influential Islamic philosophers and scientist. He lived in a time where Philosophy was not celebrated in the Islamic world, and philosophers were regarded as unbelievers. He, however, revived the Aristotelian philosophy stressing that it has no conflict with the belief in God, and that was the theme he used throughout his writings. He integrated religion and philosophy challenging the anti-philosophical view of the Muslim scholars at that point. That influenced a group of western scholars who used the same examination and identified themselves as the “Averroists.”