Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 15.djvu/837

Rh HI8TOKY.J was worthy of a better period of medical literature. Little else was produced in these times but compilations, of the most meagre kind, chiefly of the nature of herbals, or domestic receipt-books; among the authors of which it may be sufficient to name Serenus Sammonicus (3d century), Gargilius Martialis (3d century), and Marcellus Empiricus (5th century). Certain compilations still extant bear the falsely-assumed names of eminent writers, such as Pliny and Hippocrates. A writer with the (perhaps assumed) name of Apuleius Platonicus produced a herbal which held its ground till the loth century at least, and was in the 9th translated into Anglo-Saxon. These poor compilations, together with Latin translations of certain works of Galen and Hippocrates, formed a medical literature, meagre and unprogressive indeed, but of which a great part survived through the Middle Ages till the discovery of printing and revival of learning. It is important to remember that this obscure stream of tradition flowed on, only partially affected by the influx of Arabian, or even the early revival of purer classical learning. Arabian Medicine. The rise of the Mohammedan empire, which influenced Europe so deeply both politically and intellectually, made its mark also in the history of medicine. As in the parallel case of the Roman conquest of Greece, the superior culture of the conquered race asserted its supre macy over their Arab conquerors. After the Mohammedan conquests became consolidated, and learning began to flourish, schools of medicine, often connected with hospitals and schools of pharmacy, arose in all the chief seats of Moslem power. At Damascus Greek medicine was zealously cultivated with the aid of Jewish and Chris tian teachers. In Baghdad, under the rule of Harun el Rashid and his successors, a still more nourishing school arose, where numerous translations of Greek medical works were made. The names of Mesua, orYahyaibn Masawaih (ob. 2 13 A.H., 857-8 A.D.), celebrated for his knowledge of drugs, and Honein ibn Ishak el Ibadi (ob. 873) or Joannitius, the translator and commentator of Hippocrates and Galen, belong to this period. Certain writings of Joan nitius, translated into Latin, were popular in the Middle Ages in Europe, and were printed in the 16th century. At the same time the Arabs became acquainted with Indian medicine, and Indian physicians lived at the court of Baghdad. The Islamite rulers in Spain were not long behind those of the East in encouraging learning and medical science, and developed culture to a still higher degree of perfection. In that country much was due to the Jews, who had already established schools in places which were afterwards the seats of Moslem dominion. From the 10th to the 13th century was the brilliant period of Arabian medicine in Spain. 1 The classical period of Arabian medicine begins with Rhazes (Abu Bakr Mohammed ibn Zakarfyd el-Razf, 313 A.H., 925-26 A. D.), a native of Ray in the province of Dailam (Persia), who practised with distinction at Baghdad ; he followed the doctrines of Galen, but learnt much from Hippocrates. He was the first of the Arabs to treat medicine in a comprehensive and ency clopaedic manner, surpassing probably in voluminousness Galen himself, though but a small proportion of his works are extant. Ilhazes is deservedly remembered as having first described small-pox and measles in an accurate manner. Haly, i.e., AM ibn el- Abbas (ob. 994), a Persian, wrote a medical text-book, known as the &quot; Royal Book,&quot; which was the standard authority among the Arabs up to the time of Avicenna, and was more than once translated into Latin and printed. Other writers of this century need not be mentioned here ; but the next, the llth century, is given as 1 See Dozy, Cat. Cod. Or. Lug. Bat., ii. 296. 805 the probable though uncertain date of a writer who had a great influence on European medicine, Mesua the younger of Damascus, whose personality is obscure, and of whose very existence some historians have doubted, thinking that the name was assumed by some mediaeval Latin writer. The work De Simplicibus, which bears his name, was for centuries a standard authority on what would now be called materia medica, was printed in twenty-six editions in the 15th century and later, and was used in the formation of the first London pharmacopoeia, issued by the College of Physicians in the reign of James I. Either to the 10th or the llth century must be referred the name of another Arabian physician who has also attained the position of a classic, Abu l Kdsim, or Abulcasis, of El- Zahra, near Cordova in Spain. His great work, Altasnf, a medical encyclopaedia, is chiefly valued for its surgical portion (already mentioned), which was translated into Latin in the 12th century, and was for some centuries a standard if not the standard authority on surgery in Europe. Among his own countrymen the fame and posi tion of Abulcasis were soon eclipsed by the greater name of Avicenna (Ibn Sina). Avicenna (see vol. iii. p. 152 sq.) has always been re garded as the chief representative of Arabian medicine. He wrote on philosophy also, and in both subjects acquired the highest reputation through the whole of Eastern Islam. In Mohammedan Spain he was less regarded, but in Europe his works even eclipsed and superseded those of Hippocrates and Galen. His style and expository power are highly praised, but the subject-matter shows little originality. The work by which he is chiefly known, the celebrated &quot; canon,&quot; is an encyclopaedia of medical and surgical knowledge, founded upon Galen, Aristotle, the later Greek physicians, and the earlier Arabian writers, singularly complete and systematic, but is thought not to show the practical experience of its author. As in the case of Galen, the formal and encyclopaedic character of Avicenna s works was the chief cause of his popularity and ascendency, though in modern times these very qualities in a scientific or medical writer would rather cause him to become more speedily antiquated. In the long list of Arabian medical writers none can here be mentioned except the great names of the Hispano- Moorish school, a school both philosophically and medi cally antagonistic to that of Avicenna. Of these the earliest is Avenzoar, or Abumeron, that is, Abu Merwan Abd el-Malik Ibn Zohr (1113-62), a member of a family which gave several distinguished members to the medical profession. His chief work, Al-Teysir (facilitatio), is thought to show more practical experience than the writings of Avicenna, and to be less based upon dialectical subtleties. It was translated into Latin, and more than once printed, as were some of his lesser works, which thus formed a part of the contribution made by the Arabians to European medicine. His friend and pupil AVEKROES of Cordova (&amp;lt;/.? .), so well known for his philosophical writings, was also an author in medical subjects, and as such widely read in Latin. The famous Rabbi MAIMONIDES (q.v.) closes for us the roll of medical writers of the Arabian school. His works exist chiefly in the original Arabic or in Hebrew translations ; only some smaller treatises have been translated into Latin, so that no definite opinion can be formed as to their medical value. But, so far as is known, the independent and rationalistic spirit which the two last-named writers showed in philosophy did not lead them to take any original point of view in medicine. The works of the Arabian medical writers who have now been mentioned form a very small fraction of the existing literature. Three hundred medical writers in