1.4.2

Islam & Medicine

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Islamic Medicine

The Islamic Empire (prominent in the 8th and 9th centuries) was more scientifically advanced than Western Europe. They preserved lots of books from Ancient Greek and Roman scholars (like Hippocrates and Galen).

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Religion

  • As a religion, Islam was disposed to furthering scientific discovery.
    • This was because the Qur’an supported scientific research and learning.
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Avicenna

  • Key Muslim doctors included Avicenna and Ibn Al-Nafis.
  • In the 10th century, Avicenna wrote an encyclopaedia of Ancient Greek and Islamic medicine called ‘Canon of Medicine’.
    • This was vital in Western Europe until the 17th century after it was translated into Latin.
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Al-Nafis

  • Key Muslim doctors included Avicenna and Ibn Al-Nafis.
  • In the 13th century, Ibn Al-Nafis claimed that Galen was wrong in his belief that blood was produced in the liver and that it fuelled the body.
    • He thought (correctly) that blood passed through the heart via the lungs.
  • But Islam banned human dissection so Al-Nafis could not prove his theory. Because of this religious belief, Galen’s mistakes were believed until the 17th century.
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Alchemy

  • Alchemy tried to turn metals into gold and find a substance that gave eternal (never-ending) life.
  • Alchemy was used in the Islamic Empire and alchemists did use things like distillation, which helped the development of drugs.

Islamic Surgery & Reaching the West

The Islamic Empire (prominent in the 8th and 9th centuries) was more scientifically advanced than Western Europe. They preserved lots of books from Ancient Greek and Roman scholars (like Hippocrates and Galen).

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Abulcasis

  • Abulcasis, the Islamic physician wrote a detailed book on amputations, fixing (stitching) wounds, fractures, dislocations and dental surgery (on teeth).
  • In the 11th century, Albucasis wrote Al Tasrif, this was a 30-volume book on medicine.
    • He also invented surgical instruments and popularised cauterisation.
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Muslim hospitals

  • Muslim hospitals were far more developed than Christian hospitals because they actively sought to treat patients.
    • They had isolation units for patients with contagious illnesses.
  • There is some evidence that surgery was more advanced in the Islamic Empire and that doctors did post-mortems on the dead.
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Spreading knowledge

  • Islamic medicine and their knowledge of Ancient Greek medicine began to penetrate the Western World in the 11th century.
    • This was after a merchant, Constantine the African, arrived in Italy.
  • The transfer of knowledge, however, was very slow.
  • Trade routes were important in spreading information between civilisations.

Jump to other topics

1Medicine Stands Still

2The Beginnings of Change

3A Revolution in Medicine

4Modern Medicine

5Themes in Public Health

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