 |
Ottoman Medical Practice and The Medical Science |
|
By: Professor Nil Sari, Sat 04 July, 2009 |
|
Professor Nil Sari The Ottomans paid great attention to medical practice and they were also greatly interested in the education and practice of physicians, surgeons and oculists. Many of these practiced their art both in and outside the palace, specially in major cities; and as members of the guilds they belonged to the Palace. The medical staff of the Palace, the medical madrasa in Istanbul and the practicing physicians in hospitals were expected to follow developments in medical sciences and even promote them. This original article by Professor Nil Sari presents a study of Ottoman medical practice and science based on new materials such as archival documents and manuscripts.
|
|
Anatomy of the Horse in the 15th Century |
|
By: Rania Elsayed, Fri 05 June, 2009 |
|
Rania Elsayed The famous image we find in an Arabic manuscript depicting the "al-faras al-mastuh" (a horse lying on its back) is a clear representative of the degree of progress attained in the Islamic tradition of veterinary science in general and in hippiatry, in particular. The following article by Rania Elsayed, a scholar from Cairo, presents a reproduction of this image taken from the original manuscript and the English translation of the portions of the Arabic text, those being like captions presenting the comments of the original author on the different parts of the anatomy of the horse.
|
|
Anaesthesia 1000 Years Ago: A Historical Investigation |
|
By: Dr. Adnan A. Al-Mazrooa and Professor Rabie E. Abdel-Halim, Fri 05 June, 2009 |
|
Dr Adnan A. Al-Mazrooa and Professor Rabie E. Abdel-Halim The following research article in a particular field of the history of medicine, written by two eminent experts, Drs Adnan A. Al-Mazrooa and Rabie E. Abdel-Halim, is composed of two parts. This first part surveys the use of narcotics for pain relief from Antiquity up to the Renaissance; the second part is a historical investigation in the contribution of the Islamic medical tradition to develop anaesthesia methods and uses. Reviewing some of the medical texts written by Muslim scholars from the 9th to the 14th century, the authors present evidence that anaesthesia monitoring and resuscitation were practised by Muslim scientists more than 1000 years ago.
|
|
Paediatric Urology 1000 Years Ago |
|
By: Professor Rabie E. Abdel-Halim, Wed 13 May, 2009 |
|
Professor Rabie E. Abdel-Halim In this study, we present a brief commentary on four books written by Muslim physicians and medical authors who lived between the ninth and the eleventh centuries, having to do with urology, with a special view toward aspects of paediatric urology. The books are: Al-Hawi fi al-tibb by Muhammad al-Razi, Risala fi siyasat as-sibian wa-tadbirihim by the scholar of Qirawan Ibn al-Jazzar, Kitab at-tasrif li-man 'ajiza 'an at-ta'lif by the Andalusian physician al-Zahrawi and Al-Qanun fi al-tibb, the famous Canon of Medicine by Al-Shaykh al-Ra'is Abu 'Ali Ibn Sina.
|
|
Pericardial Pathology 900 Years Ago: A Study and Translations from an Arabic Medical Textbook |
|
By: Rabie E. Abdel-Halim and Salah R. Elfaqih, Wed 06 May, 2009 |
|
This is a study and translation of the section on pericarditis in Kitab al-taysir fi al-mudawat wa-'l-tadbir (Book of Simplification Concerning Therapeutics and Diet) written by the Muslim physician Ibn Zuhr (Avenzoar) who lived and practiced in Al-Andalus between 1091-1162 CE. Ibn Zuhr described the serous type of pericarditis as well as the pathological findings in fibrinous pericarditis. His description of the latter may also fit with the picture of chronic fibrous pericarditis. He also described acute purulent pericarditis and involvement of the pericardium in cases of acute carditis with hectic fever. Ibn Zuhr's description of the pericardial effusion in serous pericarditis as "looking like urine" indicates that he must have seen a sample of the fluid obtained either by pericardiocentesis or during a post-mortem examination. However, his description of "solid substances accumulating on the inside of the heart's covering looking like layers upon layers of membranes" could not have been made possible without post-mortem dissection.
|
|
The Missing Link in the History of Urology: A Call for More Efforts to Bridge the Gap |
|
By: Professor Rabie E. Abdel-Halim, Fri 01 May, 2009 |
|
With few exceptions, most of the current publications on history of urology still ignore the scientific and technological events of the more than a thousand years between the Greco-Roman times and the modern era. This has broken an important link in the globally continuous line of progress and evolution of world civilizations. In this article, Professor Rabie E. Abdel-Halim restores this missing-link. He attracts the attention on the medical works of the scholars of the Islamic civilisation who lived and practiced between the 9th and the 13th centuries and whose Latinized books were available in Europe as early as the 12th century with their influence lasting until the 18th century: Ibn al-Nafis, Ibn Zuhr, Al-Razi, Ibn Al-Jazzar, Al-Zahrawi, Ibn Sina, Ibn Zuhr, Ibn Rushd, Muhadhdhab Al-Din Al-Baghdadi, Ibn Al-Baytar and Ibn El-Quff.
|
|
Turkish Medical History of the Seljuk Era |
|
By: FSTC Limited, Tue 31 March, 2009 |
|
The Great Seljuk state was part of the medieval Islamic civilization. Most of its scientific institutions and educational traditions were inherited from previous and contemporary Muslim and Turkish states. In this well documented article, the late Professor Ali Haydar Bayat focuses on the medical life of the Seljuk State. After a short historical survey, he describes the medical tradition during the Turkish Seljukid period, focussing on hospitals, medical education, the physicians and their work, the healing of epidemics, and the practice of folk medicine.
|
|
The Medical Organization at the Ottoman Court |
|
By: FSTC Limited, Tue 24 March, 2009 |
|
The Ottoman imperial Palace was quite different from Western palaces and courts, for it was not only the residence of the Ottoman Sultans and their royal household, but also served to various other functions as well. In addition to being the seat of the imperial reign, it comprised schools and hospitals, and was a centre of trade, arts and crafts. With its about 10,000 inhabitants and 400 years of service, the Ottoman Palace was the centre of the health organization of the Empire. The following surveys the medical organization at the Ottoman court by focussing on the Topkapi Palace, founded by Sultan Mehmed the Conqueror in 1476.
|
|
Women Dealing with Health during the Ottoman Reign |
|
By: Nil Sari, Sat 28 February, 2009 |
|
In the history of Islamic civilization, many hospitals were founded by women, either as wives, daughters or mothers of sultans. All health personnel were male at these hospitals. In the Ottoman period, the female patients were treated either at their homes or at the residences of the medical practitioners until the 19th century. This feature somewhat explains the rich varieties of females practicing medicine both in and outside the Ottoman palace. In this article, Professor Nil Sari, provides information on the various medical practices dedicated to female patients under the Ottomans.
|
|
The Paracelsian Influence on Ottoman Medicine in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries |
|
By: FSTC Limited, Wed 25 February, 2009 |
|
Galen's concept of medicine which dominated the medical world almost nearly for fifteen centuries began to loose its importance in the 16th century. At that time, Paracelsus (1493-1541) introduced a new medical understanding based on chemical principles. The Paracelsian theory, which changed gradually medical practice, influenced modern Ottoman medicine to a great extent. Paracelsus, the Swiss doctor, was introduced in Ottoman medical writings as a German hakîm from Austria. In this artile, the multifaceted influence of his school on Turkish Ottoman medicine is describe by means of various examples.
|
