508  Pharmacy  and  Medicine  in  Egypt.     { ^JVeSJe^w™' 
for  a  period  of  nine  centuries,  during  which  a  fresh  impulse  was 
given  to  science,  knowledge,  and  scientific  investigation  and  re- 
searches. Amru,  by  the  order  of  the  Caliph,  built  the  Egyptian 
capital,  Cairo.  The  conquerors  improved  their  new  city  considerably 
and  succeeded  in  making  it  the  great  centre  of  learning  during  the 
age  when  the  European  civilization  was  most  obscured.  Ancient 
Greek  manuscripts  were  translated ;  universities  and  academies  were 
built,  which  produced  for  the  rising  schools  of  Europe  teachers  in 
philosophy,  mathematics,  medicine,  chemistry,  and  pharmacy.  Their 
Arabic  books  were  translated  into  different  languages,  copies  printed 
and  distributed  throughout  Europe. 
It  would  be  impossible  to  give  a  fair  representation  or  full  descrip- 
tion of  the  great  genius,  enlightenment,  wide  knowledge,  wisdom, 
and  activity  of  the  Arabians,  who  played  the  most  important  and 
imperishable  part  in  the  development  of  medicine,  chemistry,  botany, 
and  pharmacy  in  mediaeval  times.  They  were  the  first  nation  that 
extended  the  practice  of  pharmacy  and  separated  it  from  the  practice 
of  medicine,  and  this  was  recognized  in  the  eighth  century,  legalized, 
and  carried  out  in  the  eleventh  century.  They  were  the  exploiters, 
if  not  the  introducers,  of  a  vast  number  of  new  drugs,  such  as  senna, 
camphor,  sandalwood,  rhubarb,  civet,  musk,  aloes,  cassia,  tamarind, 
nutmeg,  clove,  cubeb,  aconite,  mastiche,  ambergris,  granatum,  most 
of  the  umbelliferse  family,  pellitory,  several  gums,  gum-resins,  oleo- 
resins,  and  mercury  compounds.  They  were  the  originators  of 
syrups,  jalap,  alcohols,  aldehydes,  ethers,  and  introducers  of  alembic, 
all  Arabic  terms  ;  and  the  gilding  and  silvering  of  pills  (not  for  mak- 
ing, them  attractive,  but  for  the  aiding  of  their  medical  effects). 
They  introduced  precious  stones  and  gold  and  silver  salts  in  the  treat- 
ment of  diseases.  They  were  the  inventors  of  H2S04,  HNOs,  and 
muriatic  acids,  aqua  regia,  and  flavoring  extracts  made  of  rose  water, 
orange  and  lemon  and  from  other  members  of  the  citrus  family. 
They  were  the  first  people  who  established  apothecary  shops  for 
compounding  and  dispensing  drugs,  and  placed  these  shops  under 
regulation,  scientific  examination,  and  severe  legal  restriction- 
It  is  fitting,  therefore,  to  give  a  brief  outline  of  the  great  pharma- 
ceutical and  medical  development  and  to  emphasize  that  there  were 
at  that  time,  among  the  Arabs,  leaders  in  medicine,  pharmacy,  pharma- 
cognosy, chemistry  and,  in  fact,  most  sciences.  Their  medical  and 
pharmaceutical  books  and  pharmacopoeias  were  standard  authorities 
throughout  the  civilized  world.    These  books  were  referred  to  as 
