Arabian medicine : being the Fitzpatrick lectures delivered at the College of physicians in November 1919 and November 1920 / by Edward G. Browne.
- Edward Granville Browne
- Date:
- 1921
Licence: In copyright
Credit: Arabian medicine : being the Fitzpatrick lectures delivered at the College of physicians in November 1919 and November 1920 / by Edward G. Browne. Source: Wellcome Collection.
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![chief signs and symptoms of each disease and the treat¬ ment recommended, and, so far as I have seen, there are no references to actual cases, or clinical notes. The book, indeed, except for the First Part—which deals with general philosophic conceptions, and contains some interesting ideas regarding the genesis of the Four Elements (Earth, Air, Fire and Water) from the Four Natures (Heat, Cold, Dryness and Moisture) and their metamorphosis (aJUwJLJ)—is little more than a Prac¬ titioner’s Vade-mecum, chiefly interesting as one of the earliest extant independent medical works in Arabic written by the teacher of the great physician whom we have now to consider. Abu Bakr Muhammad ibn Zakariyya of Ray, hence called in Arabic ar-Razi, and by the medieval Latinists “ Rhazes,” was probably the greatest and most original ol all the Muslim physicians, and one of the most prolific as an author. His birth-place, Ray, situated a few miles from Tihran, the modern capital of Persia, was one of the most ancient Persian cities, being mentioned in the Avesta1 as “ Ragha of the three races,” the twelfth of the good lands created by Ahura Mazda. In early life music was his chief interest, and he was a skilful player on the lute. He then devoted himself to Philosophy, but, according to the Qadi Safid2, “did not fathom Metaphysics, nor apprehend its ultimate aim, so that his judgment was troubled and he adopted indefensible views, espoused objectionable [i.e. heterodox] doctrines, and criticized people whom he did not understand, and whose methods he did not follow.” Herein he stands in sharp contrast with Avicenna, of whom we shall speak 1 Vendidad, Fargard ii, v. 16. 2 Ibn Atu Usaybi‘a, i, p. 310.](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b29823717_0060.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
