Medical Sciences 9th century
Inventions by Muslims
The Muslims have made
a lasting contribution to the development of Medical Science. Al-Razi (Rhazes), Ibn Sina (Avicenna), and Abu Ali
al-Hasan (Alhazen) were the greatest medical scholars of mediaeval times. And
there works were being TAUGHT IN WEST FOR 700 YEARS.
Abū Bakr Muhammad ibn
Zakarīya al-Rāzi is known in the West as Rhazes. According to al-Biruni, a
great Muslim scientist, he was born in Rayy, Iran in the year 865 AD (251 AH),
and died there in 925 AD (313 AH)
Al-Razi was a
versatile Persian physician, philosopher, and scholar who made fundamental and
enduring contributions to the fields of medicine, alchemy, and philosophy, recorded in over 184 books and articles in various
fields of science. He was well versed in Greek medical knowledge and added
substantially to it from his own observations. He was unquestionably one of the
greatest thinkers of the Islamic World, and had an enormous influence on
European science and medicine.
He was the inventor of “Seton”. ‘Seton’ is the thread or similar object
inserted beneath the skin to provide drainage or to guide subsequent passage of
a tube, in surgery. Further more he was the author of ‘Al-Judari wal Hasbak’,
authentic book dealing with measles and small pox, describing how to
distinguish then from each other. Seen as one of the greatest physicians in the
world in the Middle Ages, Al-Razi stressed empirical observation and clinical
medicine and was unrivalled as a diagnostician. He also wrote works on hygiene
in hospitals.
The 10th century surgeon al-Zahrawi was the first to develop sophisticated
surgical tools for operations. He also made plaster to help broken bones heal.
Al-Zahrawi developed pioneering operative techniques, including the ceasarean
section.
Avicenna wrote ‘Al-Qanun Jil Tib known as Cannon’, which was the most widely
studied medical work of mediaevel times and was reprinted more than twenty
times during the last 30 years of the 15th century in many different languages.
The book remained a standard textbook even in
Europe, for over 700 years.
The contagious
character of the plague and its remedies were discovered by Ibn Katina, a
Moorish Physician. Other significant contributions
were made in pharmacology, such as Ibn Sina’s ‘Kitab al-Shifa’ (Book of
Healing), and in public health.
Every major city in the Islamic world (Muslim caliphate) had a
number of excellent hospitals, some of them teaching hospitals, and many of
them were specialized for particular diseases, including mental and emotional.
The
Ottomans were particularly noted for their building of hospitals and for the
high level of hygiene practiced in them.
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