Abu Ali Husain ibn Abdullah ibn Sina (Fig. 7) was born to a Persian family on the August 23, 980 CE in Afshaneh, a village near Bukhara (now located in Uzbekistan), in Persia.39,40 He became known in the West as Avicenna, the “Aristotle of Islam” and the “Second Doctor” (after Aristotle, who was “the First”).41,42 At 5 years of age, Avicenna moved to Bukhara with his family. With the help of his father and religious teachers, Avicenna completely memorized the Quran when he was 8 years old. At the age of 10, Avicenna became well versed in various sciences including logic, geometry, and mathematics.13 When Avicenna was a teenager, Abu Sahl al-Masihi encouraged him to study medicine. In 997 CE, Avicenna began his professional career as a physician.43 At the age of 17, Avicenna cured Nuh ibn Mansur, the Samanid ruler of Bukhhara, of an unknown illness that other physicians had failed to cure.28 Avicenna was subsequently rewarded with access to the royal library of Bukhara for his success in curing the Emir’s illness.
Portrait of ibn Sina or Avicenna (980–1037 CE).
By the fall of the Samanid dynasty in 999 CE, Avicenna had left Bukhara for Gorganch of the Khwarizmi Kingdom, now known as Urgench in Uzbekistan, where he became acquainted with Al-Biruni (973–1048 CE), a great pharmacist and polymath of the 11th century.28 Avicenna’s travels to different Persian cities continued in later years affording him with precious opportunities to access libraries, such as the Buyid Libraries of Ray (1014–1015 CE) and Hamadan and the Kakuyid Library of Isfahan. While residing in Hamadan, Avicenna became Shams al-Dawla’s vizier until 1021 CE. After the Emir’s death, the new Buyid ruler, Samaa al-Dawla, detained Avicenna on suspicion of disloyalty. During his 4-month imprisonment, Avicenna wrote his medical treatise, Kitab al-Qawlanj (The Treatise on Colic).44 After Alaa al-Dawla ibn Kakuya’s conquest of Hamadan, Avicenna was released from prison and left for Isfahan where he wrote the Kitab al-Shifa (Book of Healing).18 On the way back to Hamadan in 1037 CE, Avicenna suffered from a severe colic, perhaps due to stomach cancer, and died at 58 years of age.18,43
Avicenna’s medical masterpiece is Al-Qanun fi al-Tibb (The Canon of Medicine) (Fig. 8). He started work on this in Jorjan and completed it in Ray.18The Canon of Medicine was such an influential treasure in the history of medicine that Nizami Aruzi, a Persian poet in the 12th century, wrote in his Chahar Maqala (Four Discourses) “…could Hippocrates and Galen return to life, it were meet that they should do reverence to this book [The Canon of Medicine]…”45 Translated into Latin, Hebrew, German, French, and English, The Canon of Medicine was the core of Western medical science between the 13th and 18th centuries.46 Indeed, lessons of Avicenna were taught at the University of Brussels until 1909 CE.18
The frontispiece ofThe Canon of Medicine by Avicenna. Reproduced with permission from Wellcome Library, London.
The Canon of Medicine was divided into 5 parts, the first of which described general anatomy and principles of medicine. The second book was dedicated to materia medica; the third, to diseases of the special organs; the fourth, to general medical conditions; and the fifth, to formulary. In the ninth part of the third book, Avicenna’s sixth chapter “On treatment of croup and angina,” describes his method of performing tracheostomy and administering a yellow powder on the incision site:47
“…retract the head and hold it (the head), hold the skin and incise it. It would be more appropriate to hold the skin in place using “Sonnareh” and pull the skin away until the trachea is visible, incise between the two rings (cartilages) from the middle of the incised skin and later suture it and apply some Zarur e Asfar (the yellow powder) on it, and the edges of the skin should be folded and sutured solely without touching the cartilage and the membrane…”
Clearly documented in later centuries by Muhammad Momen Hosseini (17th century), a Persian physician of the Safavid court, this yellow powder comprised: sarcocolla (Astragalus fasciculifolius Boiss), aloe (Aloe vera), saffron (Crocus sativus), rose seed (Rosa damascena), opium (Papaver somniferum), and horned poppy (Glaucium cornicolatum).48
39. Shoja MM, Tubbs RS, Loukas M, Khalili M, Alakbarli F, Cohen-Gadol AA. Vasovagal syncope in the Canon of Avicenna: the first mention of carotid artery hypersensitivity. Int J Cardiol. 2009;134:297–301
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40. Afshar A. A brief report about the concepts of hand disorders in the Canon of Medicine of Avicenna. J Hand Surg Am. 2011;36:1509–14
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41. Goodrich JTGreenblatt SH, Dagi TF, Epstein MH. Neurosurgery in ancient and medieval worlds. In: A History of Neurosurgery in Its Scientific and Professional Contexts. 1997 Park Ridge American Association of Neurological Surgeons:37–64
42. Linden SJ The Alchemy Reader: From Hermes Trismegistus to Isaac Newton. 2003 Cambridge Cambridge University Press
43. Gutas DYarshater E. Avicenna ii. Biography. In: Encyclopaedia Iranica. 1987 New York Encyclopaedia Iranica:67–70
44. Najmabadi M Tarikh e Tebb dar Iran (The History of Medicine in Iran) [in Persian]. 2002 Tehran University of Tehran Press
45. Browne EG Nizami al-’Arudi al-Samarqandi, Chahar Maqalah (The Four Discourses). 1978 Cambridge Gibb Memorial Trust
46. Gorji A, Khaleghi Ghadiri M. History of headache in medieval Persian medicine. Lancet Neurol. 2002;1:510–5
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47. Sharafkandi A. (Translator). The Persian translation of Qanoun fi al-Tibb (or The Canon of Medicine) [in Persian]. 2008;Vol 3 Tehran Soroush Press
48. Hosseini MM Tohfeh Hakim Momen (A Gift from Hakim Momen) [in Persian]. 1997 Tehran Mahmoudi Bookshop Press
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