April 2015 Vol. 3 No. 4

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Review

Avicenna (Ibn Sīnā): A par excellence influential Iranian physician and philosopher – scientist, and the prince of physicians

Nāsir pūyān (Nasser Pouyan)

Nāsir pūyān (Nasser Pouyan), Tehran, 16616-18893, Iran

E-mail: nasser_pouyan@yahoo.com

Accepted April 13, 2015

Abstract

Avicenna, Latin name of Abū ʻAlī Sīnā (980-1037), a famous and influential Persian physician and philosopher- Scientist, as a brilliant youth at Bukhārā, mastered nearly all the sciences of his days by the age of 19. While serving as a royal physician to various rulers in Iran, he wrote his many works, mostly in Arabic. The most famous of these were the Canon of Medicine which was one million words long in five volumes and ranked among the famous books in the history of medicine. He wrote also a vast scientific and philosophical encyclopedia Kitab al- Shifāʼ (The Book of Healing), a lengthy account of Aristotelian logic, metaphysics, and physiology. His own philosophy was Neo- Platonic mysticism constructed on Aristotelian base, which Avicenna attempted to reconcile with the main doctrines of Islam. Avicenna described anthrax, dementia, epilepsy, headache, and pleurisy. He recognized the contagiousness of tuberculosis, and advised freshening of ununited fractures. Although, Avicenna wrote little regarding dentistry that was new, he stressed the importance of keeping the teeth clean. He recommended for this purpose a number of dentifrices such as burnt hartʼs horn, salt, meerschaum, and ... His works were widely read in the medieval Near East, and in Latin translations, in the Europe of Middle ages.

Keywords: Canon of Medicine, Medicine, Philosophy, Shifā