Medieval Islamic Medicine

Abstract

One of the acknowledged contributions to late medieval western educationwas the tradition of Islamic medicine, both for its role in preserving earlierGreek medical knowledge and, as the authors of this book demonstrate, forinnovative and creative advances in medical diagnosis, treatment, and patientcare. Pormann and Savage-Smith provide an informative overview of thehistory of medicine in the Islamic world, from the Prophet’s sayings to theperiod of extensive contact with European colonialism. Their work supplementsand updates the slim volume ofManfred Ullmann, to whom this bookis dedicated, entitled Islamic Medicine (Edinburgh University Press: 1976). Consciously avoiding a sweeping history of a vast scientific field, theauthors narrate a readable story of Islamicmedicine and provide suggestionsfor further reading at the end of each chapter. Without question, this volumecan be considered the best and most critical introduction to the field and aguide for future research.One of the most important critical issues probed is the impact of Greekmedicine, especially as mediated through Byzantine sources, on the emergenceof a distinctive “Islamic” approach to medicine. The synthetic corpusof the Hippocratic writings and the works of Galen formed the holistic basisfor the scientific development of medical theory (chapter 2), including thehumoral system, diet, pharmacology, disease diagnosis, anatomy, and surgery.The authors also discuss other currents of medical knowledge, from theAlexandrian medical curriculum to the knowledge found in Sasanid Persia,Syriac Christian sources, India, and even unto China. The translation of non-Arabic texts was a major contribution, but “Greek medicine as well as someelements of other medical traditions were transformed and not merely givenpermanent right of abode as aliens, they were assimilated, adapted, andfinally adopted in the truest sense of the word into Islamic society” (p. 37) ...