Islamic Medicine Flashcards
When was the Islamic Empire prominent?
8th and 9th centuries
What was the Islamic Empire more advanced in?
Science
What books were preserved?
Ones from Ancient Greece and Roman scholars like Hippocrates and Galen
Who did the Islamic Empire value?
Hippocrates and Galen
Why was Islam disposed to furthering scientific discovery?
Muhammad said “for every disease, Allah has given a cure” which meant that doctors were inspired to find the cures because the Quran supported it
What new drugs were discovered by Muslim scientists?
Senna and naphtha
How were people with mental illnesses treated?
With compassion
What were Muslim hospitals called?
Bimaristans
How were Muslim hospitals different to Christian ones?
They actually treated the patients not just cared for them
How were patients with contagious diseases isolated?
In units
What did doctors perform on the dead?
Post-Mortems
When did Islamic medical discoveries and the old medical knowledge of the Ancient Greeks arrive in Italy?
1065
How did Islamic and Ancient Greek medical knowledge reach Italy?
A merchant called Constantine the African had translated them into Latin
What universities in Italy soon became the best places to study medicine in medieval Europe?
Padua and Bologna
How did the medical ideas of Islam and Ancient Greeks reach England?
Trade as merchants brought new equipment, drugs and books
What did Rhazes distinguish for the first time?
Measles from smallpox
How many textbooks did Rhazes write?
200
Who did Rhazes follow but was critical of?
Galen
What book did Rhazes write that doubted Galen?
Doubts about Galen
What was the Cannon of Medicine?
An encyclopaedia of Ancient Greek and Islamic medicine
Who wrote the Cannon of Medicine and when?
Avicenna in the 10th century
How many drugs did the Cannon of Medicine list the properties of?
760
Examples of 2 drugs listed in Cannon of Medicine
Camphor and laudanum
What other health problems did Cannon of Medicine discuss? (Weight)
Anorexia and obesity
Until when was Canon of Medicine vital in Western Europe? Why was this?
17th century
Translated into Latin
When did Ibn al-Nafis claim Galen was wrong?
13th century
Why did Ibn al-Nadir claim Galen was wrong?
Due to his belief that blood was produced in the liver
Al-Nafis thought, correctly that blood passed through the heart via the lungs
Why couldn’t Ibn al-Nafis prove his theory that blood passed through the heart via the lungs?
Islam banned human dissection
Due to the acceptance that blood was produced in the liver, until when were Galen’s mistakes believed until?
17th century
What did Abulcasis write a detailed book on?
Amputations, stitching wounds, fractures and dental surgery
What new procedure did Abulvasis invent?
Ligatures
What did Abulcasis write?
Al Tasrif
When was Al Tasrif written?
11th century
What was Al Tasrif a book on? How many volumes did it have?
A 30 volume book on medicine
How many surgical instruments did Abulcasis invent?
26
What did Abulcasis popularise?
Cauterisation
What did alchemists use to make drugs and anaesthetics?
Distillation
What did alchemy try to turn metals into?
Gold
What did alchemy try to find?
A substance that gave eternal life
