Medicine
Main article: Islamic medicine
Further information: Ophthalmology in medieval Islam and Bimaristan
Abu al-Qasim (Abulcasis), a pioneer of modern surgery.
Abu al-Qasim (Abulcasis), a pioneer of modern surgery.
Muslim physicians made many significant advances and contributions to medicine, including anatomy, ophthalmology, pathology, the pharmaceutical sciences (including pharmacy and pharmacology), physiology, and surgery. Muslim physicians set up some of the earliest dedicated hospitals, which later spread to Europe during the Crusades, inspired by the hospitals in the Middle East.[133]
Al-Kindi wrote De Gradibus, in which he first demonstrated the application of quantification and mathematics to medicine, particularly in the field of pharmacology. This includes the development of a mathematical scale to quantify the strength of drugs, and a system that would allow a doctor to determine in advance the most critical days of a patient's illness.[134] Razi (Rhazes) (865-925), a pioneer of pediatrics,[135] recorded clinical cases of his own experience and provided very useful recordings of various diseases. His Comprehensive Book of Medicine, which introduced measles and smallpox, was very influential in Europe. In his Doubts about Galen, al-Razi was also the first to prove both Galen's theory of humorism and Aristotle's theory of classical elements false using experimentation.[99] He also introduced urinalysis and stool tests.[136]
Abu al-Qasim (Abulcasis), considered a pioneer of modern surgery,[137] wrote the Al-Tasrif (1000), a 30-volume medical encyclopedia which was taught at Muslim and European medical schools until the 17th century. He invented numerous surgical instruments, including the first instruments unique to women,[138] as well as the surgical uses of catgut and forceps, the ligature, surgical needle, scalpel, curette, retractor, surgical spoon, sound, surgical hook, surgical rod, and specula,[139] bone saw,[78] and plaster.[140] In 1021, Ibn al-Haytham (Alhacen) made important advances in eye surgery, as he studied and correctly explained the process of sight and visual perception for the first time in his Book of Optics (1021).[138]
Avicenna, who was a pioneer of experimental medicine and was also an influential thinker and medical scholar,[133] wrote The Canon of Medicine (1025) and The Book of Healing (1027), which remained standard textbooks in both Muslim and European universities until at least the 17th century. Avicenna's contributions include the introduction of systematic experimentation and quantification into the study of physiology,[141] the discovery of the contagious nature of infectious diseases, the introduction of quarantine to limit the spread of contagious diseases, the introduction of experimental medicine, evidence-based medicine, clinical trials,[142] randomized controlled trials,[143][144] efficacy tests,[145][146] and clinical pharmacology,[147] the importance of dietetics and the influence of climate and environment on health,[148] the distinction of mediastinitis from pleurisy, the contagious nature of phthisis and tuberculosis, the distribution of diseases by water and soil, and the first careful descriptions of skin troubles, sexually transmitted diseases, perversions, and nervous ailments,[133] as well the use of ice to treat fevers, and the separation of medicine from pharmacology, which was important to the development of the pharmaceutical sciences.[138]
Ibn Zuhr (Avenzoar) is considered a pioneer of experimental surgery,[149] for introducing the experimental method into surgery in the 12th century, as he was the first to employ animal testing in order to experiment with surgical procedures before applying them to human patients.[26] He also performed the first dissections and postmortem autopsies on humans as well as animals.[150]
In 1242, Ibn al-Nafis, considered a pioneer of circulatory physiology,[151] was the first to describe pulmonary circulation and coronary circulation,[152] which form the basis of the circulatory system, for which he is considered one of the greatest physiologists in history.[153] He also described the earliest concept of metabolism,[154] and developed new systems of physiology and psychology to replace the Avicennian and Galenic systems, while discrediting many of their erroneous theories on the four humours, pulsation,[155] bones, muscles, intestines, sensory organs, bilious canals, esophagus, stomach, etc.[156] Ibn al-Lubudi (1210-1267) rejected the theory of four humours supported by Galen and Hippocrates, discovered that the body and its preservation depend exclusively upon blood, rejected Galen's idea that women can produce sperm, and discovered that the movement of arteries are not dependent upon the movement of the heart, that the heart is the first organ to form in a fetus' body (rather than the brain as claimed by Hippocrates), and that the bones forming the skull can grow into tumors.[157]
The Tashrih al-badan (Anatomy of the body) of Mansur ibn Ilyas (c. 1390) contained comprehensive diagrams of the body's structural, nervous and circulatory systems.[158] During the Black Death bubonic plague in 14th century al-Andalus, Ibn Khatima and Ibn al-Khatib hypothesized that infectious diseases are caused by "contagious entities" which enter the human body.[159] Other medical innovations first introduced by Muslim physicians include the discovery of the immune system, the use of animal testing, and the combination of medicine with other sciences (including agriculture, botany, chemistry, and pharmacology),[138] as well as the invention of the injection syringe by Ammar ibn Ali al-Mawsili in 9th century Iraq, the first drugstores in Baghdad (754), the distinction between medicine and pharmacy by the 12th century, and the discovery of at least 2,000 medicinal and chemical substances.[160] |
