980-1037: Avicenna: The Prince of Physicians

Avecinna (980-1037)

While the Western world slid into the dark ages between the 6th and 12th centuries, with most scientific and medical wisdom being lost, the opposite occurred in the Arabic world where Avecenna was born into in 980 A.D.

His official Arabic name was Abn Ali Al hosain Ibn Abdullah Ibn Sina, yet to the western world he's simply referred to as Avicenna.  That's much easier to say. He was described by Sir William Henry Osler -- the father of modern medicine -- as "The Prince of Physicians. 

Avicenna was a famous medieval philosopher and physician, and his book "The Canon" was one of the most well used medical texts for over five centuries.  

He was born in Bokhara in 980 A.D. with an "extraordinary memory, his extreme facility for learning soon attracted the attention of his father, who spared neither expense nor trouble for his education.  His powers of memory were such, we are told by himself, that before he was ten years of age, he could repeat the whole Koran, and could converse familiarity on arithmetic, geometry and astronomy. He repaired to Bagdad to study philosophy and medicine, and so entirely did he devote himself to these sciences, that he is said to have labored day and night, and to have warded off the approach of sleep and excited his exhausted faculties by the use of exhilarating beverages -- and when nature prevailed over all of his contrivances, problems that baffled his walking hours were solved in his dreams."  (7)

He was so gifted as a student that his father assigned him a special instructor -- al Natali -- to teach him arithmetic, logic, science and astronomy.  In his early teens his interests shifted toward medicine, and when he was only 16 he became a physician. (6)

At the ripe age of 18 (7) he earned fame and respect when the sultan of Bukhara, Nuh ibn Mansur al-Samai, became seriously ill and the person credited for healing him was Avecenna.  

Avicenna didn't necessarily come up with his own wisdom, yet he wrote of all the knowledge he knew of at that time into his book, which was mainly Galen and Hippocrates.  As a reward for his services Avecenna was granted access to the Sultan's library, which was loaded with all the wisdom of the ancient world.  Avecenna loved to learn, so this was a great gift for him.  (6)

He spent many hours studying by candlelight many volumes of books, cramming his head with as much information as he could.  By the time he was 21 he started publishing volumes, sharing with others all he had learned.  In total he would write hundreds of volumes on a variety of topics, including ethics, logic, philosophy, science and medicine.  (?)

He was likewise known as a good politician, yet despite the long-term popularity of his book "The Canon," he did not have much "'pull' with the authorities of his time." (2) Upon being translated to Latin in 1492 (1) , the book would become the medical Bible for Europe during the 15th, 16th and 17th centuries. (6, 1)

"The Canon"was about diseases and how to treat them. While I have found many references of Avicenna and asthma, the greatest description of his references to asthma were made by Mark Jackson in his book, "Asthma: The Biography:"

According to Ibn Sina, asthma was a chronic disease in which patients often suffered 'acute paroxysms with similarity of epilepsy and spasm.'  The flow of thick humours from the head to the lungs produced a situation in which 'the patient finds no escape from rapid panting, like the labored panting of one who is being choked or rushed'.  (3)

Avicenna's recommended treatment are (3):

1. Purging
2. Vomiting
3. Blood letting
4. Voice exercises
5. Fats of hares
6. Deer
7. Gazelles
8. Penises of foxes
9. Lungs of foxes
10. Arsenic in a pill with pine resin in a drink with honey water or inhalation (5, page 325)
11. Sulphur in water with soft boiled eggs or inhalation

In 1933 E. Stolkind described Avicenna as not providing much new information as was provided by Galen.  However, Avicenna, along with other physicians of his day, mentioned the relationship between asthma and nerves of the brain.   (4)


Along with the brain, he also linked asthma with the liver and the stomach.  It's for this reason that he recommended arsenic as a remedy.  (5)

Some credit his demise to his excessive desire for wine.  (2)  He died of dysentery at the age of 58 in 1037.

References:

1. Drake, Miriam, "Encycopedia of Library and Information Science," 2nd ed., 2003, New york, page 1840
2. Michael, J. Edwin, ed., Medical and Chirurgical Faculty of the State of Maryland, "Maryland Medical Journal," May 1891-Oct. 1891, Baltimore, vol. XXV, page 349
3. Jackson, Mark, "On Asthma: The Biography," 2009, New York, pages 30-31
4. Stolkind, E, "The History of Bronchial Asthma and Allergy," Proceedings of the Royal society of Medicine, "1933, Vol 26, part 2, Great Britain, pages 1121-2
5. Aegineta, Paulus, translated by Adams, Francis, "The Medical Works of Paulus Aegineta, The Greek Physician, 1834, vo 1, page 408
6. "Avecenna: Prince of Physicians and Giant in Pharmacology," http://www.afghan-network.net/Culture/avicenna.html
7. Fourgeaud, V.J, "Medicine Among the Arabs," (Historical Sketches), Pacific medical and surgical journal, Vol. VII, ed. V.J. Fourgeaud and J.F. Morse, 1864, San Fransisco, Thompson & Company,  pages 193-203

Further reading:

1. Check the above and this for aegeneta postssss