Arab medicine Flashcards
How did the Koran (Islamic holy book) help medical progress?
It stated that caring for the sick was a vital part of the Muslim faith, this is one of the reasons why many hospitals were built in the Middle East.
How did the Islamic religion hinder medical progress?
It forbade the dissection of human bodies and many Muslims also believed that the Koran contained all of the important knowledge that they needed and therefore there was no need to make new discoveries.
What did Ibn Sinnah (Avicenna) do?
He was a Muslim who lived in Spain, he wrote a textbook covering all aspects of medicine.
What other indviduals made important discoveries?
Rhazes wrote the first accurate descriptions of measles and smallpox. Ibn Nafis disagreed with Galen and challenged his ideas about how blood flowed around the body.
Why did medicine in the Arab World not regress like it did in Western Europe?
Because the Middle East was not affected by the collapse of the Western Roman Empire. The Eastern Empire survived and so didn?t suffer the same amount of damage as Western Europe.
How was Public Health better than in Western Europe?
Arab cities contained multiple hospitals with Baghdad alone having 60 in the 1100s when London had only opened one hospital. The hospitals had separate wards for patients with different illneses and injuries preventing cross contamination and also provided a library and hands on training for doctors. The kitchens would provide patients with special diets and they were able to rest in the convalecent ward for as long as they wanted.
How did this make their hospitals better than Christian hospitals?
Because they had trained doctors who tried to cure their patients rather than simply care for them. They also didn?t turn people away from hospitals but kept them in separate wards reducing the chances of further infections.
What other Public Health measures existed?
Major cities like Baghdad, Cairo and Damascus had piped water and public baths.
How did they control pain?
They used an opium based drug called laudanum to control pain.
What progress was made in surgery?
Albucasis (Abu al-Qasim) wrote a book that described how to conduct amputations, how to remove bladder stones and how to conduct dental surgery.
Why was progress in surgery limited?
Most Arab doctors believed that theoretical learning was more important than practical experience and many including Avicenna thought that doctors shouldn?t dabble in surgery.
How did Western European countries gain access to these new ideas?
When they invaded the Holy Land during the Crusades they captured Arabic cities and were then able to learn their new medical ideas and take them back to their home countries with them.
How did Muslim people view education?
Educated people were respected and the majority of Muslim Noblemen could read and maintained large libraries at a time when many European Knights and Lords couldn?t read or write.
How else did Muslim doctors learn about medicine?
By reading the translated works of Galen and Hippocrates which hadnt been lost like in Western Europe. They also communicated with Indian and Persian doctors to expand their knowledge.
