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In the 7th century ad a vast portion of the Eastern world was
overrun by Arab conquerors. In Persia (now Iran), the Arabs learned of Greek medicine
at the schools of the Nestorian Christians, a sect in exile from the Byzantine
Empire. These schools had preserved many texts lost in the destruction of the
Alexandria Library. Translations from Greek were instrumental in the development
of an Arabic system of medicine throughout the Arab-speaking world. Followers
of the system, known as Arabists, did much to elevate professional standards by
insisting on examinations for physicians before licensure. They introduced numerous
therapeutic chemical substances and excelled in the fields of ophthalmology and
public hygiene. Important among Arabist physicians was al-Razi,
who was the first to identify smallpox and measles and to suggest blood as the
cause of infectious diseases. Avenzoar was the first to describe the parasite
causing the skin disease scabies and was among the earliest to question the authority
of Galen. Maimonides wrote extensively on diet, hygiene, and toxicology, the study
of chemicals and their effect on the body. Al-Quarashi, also known as Ibn al-Nafis,
wrote commentaries on the writings of Hippocrates and treatises on diet and eye
diseases. He was the first to determine the pathway of blood, from the right to
the left ventricle via the lungs |
