Islamic Medicine

Islamic Medicine

Causes of Disease
1. Four humours
2. Demons possessed the body and caused mental illness
Hospitals
1. More female doctors
  1. Treated women and girls
  2. Preferred to males during childbirth
  3. Based on preference
2. Treated all ill regardless of status
3. Mostly secular
4. Financed from revenues of bequests
5. Cured illnesses unlike Christian hospitals
Surgery
1. Rarely practiced outside hospitals
2. Much more than in Greece and Rome
3. Mostly from Greek and Roman texts
4. No anaesthetics
  1. Opium from poppies used to induce sleep
  2. No surgery deep in body
5. Advanced eye surgery
  1. Treatments for cataracts and trachoma
6. Cauterization
  1. Burn skin or flesh after operating
  2. Stems bleeding
  3. Prevents infection
Chemistry and Alchemy
1. Kerosene discovered
  1. Soap and antiseptics invented
2. Based on previous writers eg. Greeks and Egyptians
3. Introduced precise observation, controlled equipment and careful records
4. Distinguished between acids and alkalis
5. Studied and made drugs
6. Described chemical processes
  1. Distillation
  2. Sublimation
  3. Recrystallisation
  4. Roasting
  5. Digestion
  6. Amalgamation
  7. Washing
  8. Calcination
  9. Ceration
  10. Solution
Anatomical Knowledge
1. Al-Nafi did research about circulation
  1. Didn't like to dissect due to Shari'ah
  2. Disagreed with Galen's ventricle theory
    1. Found blood from right ventricle is carried to the left by the lungs
2. Al-Haytham studied the eye
  1. Led to more advanced eye surgery
  2. Theory of image formation
    1. Refraction of light passing between 2 media of different densities
3. Dissection of humans allowed but not widely practiced
  1. Seen by some as a way of demonstrating the design and wisdom of God
  2. Dissection of animals allowed e.g. live lion
    1. Greater knowledge of stomach
      1. When food enters the stomach it dilates and its layers stretch
4. Improved knowledge of bones due to famine in Egypt
  1. Jaw one piece not two
5. Mostly based on Galen
Treatment
1. Mostly plant-based
  1. Poppy
    1. Pain reliever
  2. Hemp
    1. Seeds used to aid childbirth
  3. Fennel
    1. Used to calm people down
  4. Garlic
    1. Given to people with heart problems
  5. Willow
    1. Antiseptic
2. Mercuric chloride
  1. Disinfect wounds
3. Surgery (see other section)
4. Bleeding
Important people
1. Al-Razi
  1. Distinguished measles from smallpox
  2. Placed pediatrics as a separate field
    1. 'Father of Pediatrics'
  3. Pioneered opthalmology
  4. Discovered allergic asthma
  5. Studied immunology and allergies
  6. Spatulas, flasks and phials attributed to him
2. Ibn Sina
  1. Wrote many books
    1. Book of Healing
      1. Scientific encyclopedia
    2. Canon of Medicine
      1. UCLA and Yale still teach principles in the work in history of medicine
      2. 5 part medical encyclopedia
      3. Explains how medicines should be tested
  2. Views on psychology more practical and scientific than Al-Razi

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