“When, therefore, you see these symptoms, or some of the worst of them (such as pain of the back, and the terrors of sleep, with the continued fever) then you may be assured that the eruption of one or the other of these diseases in the patient is nigh at hand; except that there is not in the measles so much pain of the back as in smallpox; nor in the smallpox so much anxiety and nausea as in measles, unless the smallpox be of a bad sort; and this shows that the measles came from a very bilious blood.” Al-Razi, Treatise on Smallpox and Measles

https://www.internationaljournalofcardiology.com/article/S0167-5273(14)00244-7/pdf

The Air of History (Part IV): Great Muslim Physicians Al Rhazes.

Ancient Persian medical views on the heart and blood in the Sassanid era (224-637 AD)

background

Islamic Medicine in the Middle Ages.

Abu Bakr Muhammad ibn Zakariya al-Razi known as Rhazes in the west was an Iranian scholar, researcher, physician, and alchemist. He was born in Rey, a city nearby Tehran. He lived from 865 to 925 [1–3]. Rhazes was among the outstanding physicians and medical scholars in his time and made notable contributions in the fields of theoretical and practical medicine [4, 5]. Because of his expertise and reputation, he was appointed as the chief of the main hospital in Baghdad and for a while as a court physician [6, 7]. Rhazes was among the two greatest physicians in medieval Iran. Rhazes was followed by Avicenna (937–1037) and was regarded by him as an honorable and distinguished scholar [8]. Rhazes followed Hippocrates and Galen in his works, but Rhazes combined textual medicine with his clinical observations [9]. Despite this, Rhazes rejected several claims made by Greek physicians regarding the Greek language and medicine. Although he was a follower of the Galenic thought, Rhazes rejected many teachings of Galen in his Shukuk book BDoubts about Galen (Shukuk 'ala alinusor)^ [1, 10, 11]. That is why he is considered as a physician who practiced evidence-based medicine (EBM) in his medical career early in the history of medicine [10]. It is believed that Rhazes was the most original and the greatest of all the physicians of his time [12–14]. As a teacher of medicine, Rhazes attracted students of all backgrounds and interests and was said to be compassionate and devoted to the service of his patients, whether rich or poor [15]. Through translation, his medical works became known among medieval European practitioners and profoundly influenced medical education in the West. Some sections of his publications became parts of the medical curriculum in Western universities [16, 17]. The aim of this article is to review the early contributions of Abu Bakr Muhammad Zakariya al-Razi to the pediatrics and diseases of children. We would like to emphasize on the great achievements of Rhazes in the diseases of children in the medieval period and show his role as a physician of children and a pediatric scholar at that time.

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Rhazes (AD 865-925) and his early contributions to the field of pediatrics.

Evolution of medicine and proto-, deutero- and trito-specialities.

The important contributions of stressful emotions, personality and temperament to heart disease and other disorders have been recognized since antiquity. However, early Greek, Roman, Egyptian, Chinese and Hindu cultures viewed the heart, rather than the brain, as the seat of emotions. Western medicine adopted the Hippocratic theory that illness was due to an imbalance of the four humors, and Galen later explained how this could be corrected. After the fall of Rome, most all medical texts were destroyed, and during the middle Ages, people reverted to primitive beliefs that illness was due to a misalignment of stars or punishment for some sin. There were no medical schools, the Church was responsible for medical care, and treatment was limited to various herbs from monastery gardens. This was in sharp contrast to Islam, since while Paris and London had no hospitals, Baghdad and Cairo had medical centers that included hospitals with interns and nurses, as well as libraries, pharmacies, interns, and nurses. The “House of Wisdom” and its huge multinational library, established in Baghdad in 830, attracted numerous, scholars, scientists and translators. During the tenth century, all the writings dealing with Hippocrates, Galen, and other Greek, Roman, Persian and Ayurvedic authorities had been translated into Arabic by scholars in Damascus, Cairo and Baghdad. This made Arabic the most important scientific language of the world, and stimulated Arabic physicians to make discoveries that were not anticipated in Western medicine for centuries. How these justify the heart as “King of Organs” is also explained. *Correspondence: Abdullah A. Alabdulgader, MD, DCH, MRCP, FRCP, Senior Scientist, Interventional Congenital Cardiologist, Electrophysiologist, cryo and robotic ablation specialist and electrical devices implanter. Prince Sultan Cardiac Center (Founder and Chief Physician). Alhasa, Saudi Arabia]. Received: 16 December 2020; Accepted: 10 January 2021 The Origin of How the Heart Functions in Western Medicine Early Greek, Roman, Egyptian, Chinese, Hindu and Christian cultures viewed the heart as the central organ that nourished the rest of the body. The ancient Chinese thought the heart (xin) was the source of happiness and all other emotions. It was also the seat of wisdom and moral values, and according to a 40-century-old text, "The heart is the root of life and causes the versatility of the spiritual faculties." The 35-century-old Ebers Papyrus suggests that the ancient Egyptians considered mind and body to be inseparable, and included a "treatise on the heart", which explains that the heart is the center of the blood supply, with vessels attached for every member of the body. A Hindu scripture dating from 200 to 400 B.C, describes the Paramatma as the supreme soul that resides in the heart of every living entity. The heart chakra was also the location of complex emotions like compassion, tenderness and

/pdf/unappreciated-contributions-of-arabic-physicians-to-33rvyq446n.pdf

The Air of History (Part IV): Great Muslim Physicians Al Rhazes.

Citations

Ancient Persian medical views on the heart and blood in the Sassanid era (224-637 AD)

Islamic Medicine in the Middle Ages.

Rhazes (AD 865-925) and his early contributions to the field of pediatrics.

Evolution of medicine and proto-, deutero- and trito-specialities.

Unappreciated Contributions of Arabic Physicians to Cardiology and Why the Heart Is Truly the “King of Organs”