Anatomy
Anatomy
Ibn al-Nafis, the Pulmonary Circulation, and The Islamic Golden Age, by William R. Shea
Ibn al-Nafis (1213-1288) was an Arab physician who made several important contributions to the early knowledge of the pulmonary circulation. He was the first person to challenge the long-held contention of the Galen School that blood could pass through the cardiac interventricular septum, and in keeping with this he believed that all the blood that reached the left ventricle passed through the lung. He also stated that there must be small communications or pores [manafidh in Arabic] between the pulmonary artery and vein, a prediction that preceded by 400 years the discovery of the pulmonary capillaries by Marcello Malpighi. Ibn al-Nafis and another eminent physiologist of the period, Avicenna (ca. 980-1037), belong to the long period between the enormously influential school of Galen in the 2nd century, and the European scientific Renaissance in the 16th century. This is an epoch often given little attention by physiologists but is known to some historians as the Islamic Golden Age. Its importance is briefly discussed here.
Insights into Neurologic Localization by Al-Razi (Rhazes), a Medieval Islamic Physician,
by Nizar Souayah and Jeffrey I. Greenstein
Al-Razi (Rhazes) (born in 864 CE) wrote over 200 scientific treatises, many of which had a major impact on European medicine. His best known manuscript is Liber Continens, a medical encyclopedia in which he described his contributions to neurology, focusing on his description of cranial and spinal cord nerves and his clinical case reports, which illustrate his use of neuroanatomy to localize lesions. In this article, Dr Nizar Souayah and Dr Jeffrey I. Greenstein focus on Al-Razi's description of the cranial and spinal nerves and his relevant clinical case reports, which illustrate his understanding of neuroanatomy and the application of his knowledge to clinical practice.
Pericardial Pathology 900 Years Ago: A Study and Translations from an Arabic Medical Textbook, by Rabie El-Said Abdel-Halim and Salah R. Elfaqih
This is a study and translation of the section on pericarditis in Kitab al-taysir fi al-mudawat wa-'l-tadbir (Book of Simplification Concerning Therapeutics and Diet) written by the Muslim physician Ibn Zuhr (Avenzoar) who lived and practiced in Al-Andalus between 1091-1162 CE. Ibn Zuhr described the serous type of pericarditis as well as the pathological findings in fibrinous pericarditis. His description of the latter may also fit with the picture of chronic fibrous pericarditis. He also described acute purulent pericarditis and involvement of the pericardium in cases of acute carditis with hectic fever. Ibn Zuhr's description of the pericardial effusion in serous pericarditis as "looking like urine" indicates that he must have seen a sample of the fluid obtained either by pericardiocentesis or during a post-mortem examination. However, his description of "solid substances accumulating on the inside of the heart's covering looking like layers upon layers of membranes" could not have been made possible without post-mortem dissection.
Anatomy of the Horse in the 15th Century, by Rania Elsayed
The famous image we find in an Arabic manuscript depicting the "al-faras al-mastuh" (a horse lying on its back) is a clear representative of the degree of progress attained in the Islamic tradition of veterinary science in general and in hippiatry, in particular. The following article by Rania Elsayed, a scholar from Cairo, presents a reproduction of this image taken from the original manuscript and the English translation of the portions of the Arabic text, those being like captions presenting the comments of the original author on the different parts of the anatomy of the horse.
The Book of Water (Kitab Al-Ma'a),
by FSTC
Kitab Al-Ma'a, a strange title for the first known Encyclopedia of Medicine arranged according to the alphabet was recently discovered in Algeria and published in Oman. Contains over 900 pages and was written by Ibn Al-Thahabi (died 1033AD).