ABU ALI AL-HUSSAIN IBN ABDALLAH IBN SINA (Avicenna)
(981 - 1037 C.E.)
Ibn Sina, known in the West by the name of Avicenna,
was the most famous physician, philosopher, encyclopedist,
mathematician and astronomer of his time. His major
contribution to medical science was his famous book
al-Qanun fi al-Tibb, known as the 'Canon' in the West.
No deliberation on the science of medicine can be complete
without a reference to Ibn Sina. Abu Ali al-Hussain
Ibn Abdallah Ibn Sina was born in 981C.E. at Afshana
near Bukhara (Central Asia). By the age of ten he had
become well versed in the study of the Qur'an and basic
sciences. He studied logic from Abu Abdallah Natili,
a famous philosopher of the time and his study of philosophy
included various Greek and Muslim books. In his youth
he showed remarkable expertise in medicine and was well
known in the region. At the age of seventeen, he was
successful in curing Nooh Ibn Mansoor, the King of Bukhara,
of an illness in which all the well-known physicians
had given up hope. On his recovery, King Mansoor wished
to reward him, but the young physician only desired
permission to use his uniquely stocked library.
Ibn Sina traveled to Jurjan after his father's death
where he met his famous contemporary Abu Raihan al-Biruni.
Later he moved to Rayy and then to Hamadan, where he
wrote his famous book Al-Qanun fi al-Tibb. Here, he
treated Shams al-Daulah, the King of Hamadan, for severe
colic. From Hamadan he moved to Isphahan (present Iran),
where he completed many of his monumental writings.
Nevertheless, he continued travelling and the excessive
mental exertion as well as political turmoil spoilt
his health. Finally, he returned to Hamadan where he
died in 1037 C.E.
His major contribution to medical science was his famous
book al-Qanun, known as the "Canon" in the
West. The Qanun fi al-Tibb (the Canons of Medicine)
is an immense encyclopedia of medicine extending over
a million words. It reviewed the medical knowledge available
from ancient and Muslim sources. Due to its systematic
approach, formal perfection as well as its intrinsic
value, the Qanun superceded Razi's (Rhazes') Hawi, Ali
ibn Abbas's Maliki, and even the works of Galen, and
remained supreme for six centuries. Ibn Sina not only
synthesized the available knowledge, but he also made
many original contributions. The Qanun (pronounced Qanoon)
deals with general medicines, drugs (seven hundred sixty),
diseases affecting all parts of the body from head to
foot, specially pathology and pharmacopoia. It was recognized
as the most authentic materia medica.
Among his original contributions are such advances
as recognition of the contagious nature of phthisis
and tuberculosis, distribution of diseases by water
and soil, and interaction between psychology and health.
He was the first to describe meningitis and made rich
contributions to anatomy, gynecology and child health.
Also, he was the first physician who suggested the treatment
for lachrymal fistula and introduced medical probe for
Ibn Sina's Qanun contains many of his anatomical findings
which are accepted even today. Ibn Sina was the first
scientist to describe the minute and graphic description
of different parts of the eye, such as conjuctive sclera,
cornea, choroid, iris, retina, layer lens, aqueous humour,
optic nerve and optic chiasma.
Ibn Sina condemned conjectures and presumptions in
anatomy and called upon physicians and surgeons to base
their knowledge on a close study of human body. He observed
that Aorta at its origin contains three valves which
open when the blood rushes into it from the heart during
contraction and closes during relaxation of the heart
so that the blood may not be poured back into the heart.
He asserts that muscular movements are possible because
of the nerves supplied to them, and the perception of
pain in the muscles is also due to the nerves. Further,
he observes that liver spleen and kidney do not contain
any nerves but the nerves are embedded in the covering
of these organs.
The Qanun (Canon) was translated into Latin by Gerard
of Cremona in the twelfth century. It became the text
book for medical education in the schools of Europe.
The demand for it may be appreciated from the fact that
in the last thirty years of the fifteenth century it
was issued sixteen times - fifteen editions being in
Latin and one in Hebrew, and that it was reissued more
than twenty times during the sixteenth century. In 1930
Cameron Gruner partly translated this book into English
entitled "A Treatise on the Canons of Medicine
of Avicenna." From the twelfth to seventeenth centuries
the Qanun served as the chief guide to medical science
in the West. Dr. William Osler, author of the Evolution
of Modern Science, writes: "The Qanun has remained
a medical bible for a longer period than any other work."
Ibn Sina's Kitab al-Shifa (Book of Healing) was a philosophical
encyclopedia, covering a vast area of knowledge from
philosophy to science. His philosophy synthesizes Aristotelian
tradition, Neoplatonic influences and Muslim theology.
Kitab al-Shifa was known as 'Sanatio' in its Latin translation.
Besides Shifa his well-known treatises in philosophy
are al-Najat and Isharat. He classified the entire field
into two major categories: the theoretical knowledge
and the practical knowledge. The former included physics,
mathematics and metaphysics, and the latter ethics,
economics and politics.
Ibn Sina also contributed to mathematics, physics,
music and other fields. He made several astronomical
observations, and devised a device similar to the vernier,
to increase the precision of instrumental readings.
In Physics, he contributed to the study of different
forms of energy, heat, light and mechanical, and such
concepts as force, vacuum and infinity. He made the
important observation that if the perception of light
is due to the emission of some sort of particles by
the luminous source, the speed of light must be finite.
He propounded on an interconnection between time and
motion, and also made investigations on specific gravity
and used an air thermometer.
In the field of Chemistry, he did not believe in the
possibility of chemical transmutation in metals. These
views were radically opposed to those prevailing at
his time. His treatise on minerals was one of the main
sources of geology of Christian encyclopedist of the
In the field of Music, his contribution was an improvement
over Farabi's (al-Pharabius) work and was far ahead
of knowledge prevailing elsewhere on the subject. Doubling
with the fourth and fifth was a 'great' step toward
the harmonic system. Ibn Sina observed that in the series
of consonances represented by (n+1)/n, the ear is unable
to distinguish them when n = 45.
Ibn Sina's portrait adorns the great hall of the Faculty
of Medicine in the University of Paris.