MEDI/EVAL SCIENCE AMONG ARABIANS 



givatest name in Arabic medicine, and one of the 

 most remarkable men in history. Leclerc says that 

 "he was perhaps never surpassed by any man in 

 brilliancy of intellect and indefatigable activity." His 

 career was a most varied one. He was at all times a 

 boisterous reveller, but whether flaunting gayly among 

 the guests of an emir or hiding in some obscure 

 apothecary cellar, his work of philosophical writing 

 was carried on steadily. When a friendly emir was in 

 power, he taught and wrote and caroused at court; 

 but between times, when some unfriendly ruler was 

 supreme, he was hiding away obscurely, still pouring 

 out his great mass of manuscripts. In this way his 

 entire life was spent. 



By his extensive writings he revived and kept alive 

 the best of the teachings of the Greek physicians, 

 adding to them such observations as he had made in 

 anatomy, physiology, and materia medica. Among 

 his discoveries is that of the contagiousness of pul- 

 monary tuberculosis. His works for several centuries 

 continued to be looked upon as the highest standard 

 by physicians, and he should undoubtedly be credited 

 with having at least retarded the decline of mediaeval 

 medicine. 



But it was not the Eastern Arabs alone who were 

 active in the field of medicine. Cordova, the capital 

 of the western caliphate, became also a great centre 

 of learning and produced several great physicians. 

 One of these, Albucasis (died in 1013 A.D.), is credited 

 with having published the first illustrated work on 

 surgery, this book being remarkable in still another 

 way, in that it was also the first book, since classical 



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