JOURNAL OF ISLAMIC AND IRANIAN TRADITIONAL MEDICINE
Year:2010 | Volume:1 | Issue:2 (2)|Papers Count:12

In Iranian traditional medicine, urine was used to diagnose the health status. In order to help in the diagnosis of diseases, the physician in Iranian traditional medicine took advantage of urine specimen, which was called Boul, Tafsereh, or implicitly Qarureh in different texts. It should be noted that in various traditional medicine texts, the time, condition, and method of obtaining the sample are discussed. Moreover, on the basis of quality in terms of color, appearance, other detailed differential diagnoses were made.In the current paper, we will address the viewpoints of traditional medicine on the method of obtaining a urine specimen (including the time and method of obtaining the sample, as well as the condition and place of keeping it). Furthermore, a brief overview will be provided on differential diagnoses achieved by analysis of nature and quality of urine including color, appearance, and odor, as well as the status of urine in different ages and conditions.

Destruction of Iranian scientific works through foreign invasions led to the depletion of scientific treasures of our famous scholars, which had long played a great role in the advancement of sciences. Many later researches have also ignored the contribution of Iran to such advancements. Studying the book “Al-Hawi,” we encounter the name of many people and books, which are not considered in any medical history book. In order to explore, their works, and their role in medical and pharmaceutical development, the 23 volumes of Al-Hawi (organized in 24 books) were carefully investigated. Among these scholars one encounters an individual under the assumed name of “Majhul,” whom Rhazes quoted on 208 instances, from one line to multiple pages. By analyzing the citations, it was concluded that “Majhul” must have been an Iranian who probably lived in the 7th century. Rhazes was greatly influenced by Majhul from the scientific point of view, and agreed with him in most of the cases, using allusions such as “great, expert, or trust him” showing recognition towards Majhul’s scientific rank. Majhul was the first to use cotton in medicine. He called nyctalopia as “ruz kur” (which means blind in the day), and considered the types of cataract which require surgery. He was the first to identify errors in Galen’s works and by criticizing Galen, established a new era in medical research.

History of medicine is a branch of history which evaluates the background, emergence, trend, and evolution of medical science and profession. Similar to other related disciplines, research in this field requires adhering to the consensus obtained by scientific methods. Among such studies, the most important steps are selection of the topic, raising questions about the topic, identification of reliable references, discussion and interpretation of the data, and finally conclusion. In this paper, we have briefly addressed the position of history as well as the importance of history of science and medicine, and then concisely discussed the research methodology and its problems in history of medicine.

The city of Jondishapur was founded by the Sassanid king, Shapur I, in Khuzestan. It was expanded under the rule of Shapur II and finally established as the capital of Matran diocese. The city reached its culmination following establishment of its hospital and medical school by Khosrow Anushiravan.Khosrow Anushiravan sent the Iranian scholar Borzouye to India to collect Indian manuscripts and he brought Kelile væ Demne with him to Iran. Through the settlement of Greek physicians in Sassanid Empire, Jondishapur became the meeting point of Indian, Greek, and Iranian medicine. However, the Greek medicine was predominant. The first transmission of medical knowledge from Jondishapur to Baghdad was the invitation of Jurjis Ibn Bakhtyashu, the head of Jondishapur medical school, by Mansur, the Abbasid Caliph, for treatment of the Caliph.By establishment of Baytul-Hikma, (the House of Wisdom) in Baghdad, Greek texts of Hippocrates, Galen, and Dioscorides were translated from Greek into Syriac, and then into Arabic, or directly translated from Greek into Arabic by a group of translators under the supervision of Hunayn ibn-Ishaq, his son, Ishaq ibn Hunayn and his nephew Hubaysh. Thus, Greek medicine exerted its influence. By emerging some scholars such as Ibn Māsawayh, Ibn Tabari, Rhazes, Avicenna, and Biruni, the Islamic medicine reached its culmination, and by translation of the texts of these scholars into Latin, they were effective on European universities until the 17th century.

Islam is the religion which guides the humans and saves people from ignorance and also leads them to the culmination of wisdom. Moreover, by providing an appropriate background for Muslim thinkers, they can achieve the highest prosperityin all fields of human knowledge thanks to the revelation, remarks of the holy prophet, and guidelines of the Imams. By writing down and expansion of their thoughts, the thinkers can guide their successors. Muslim scientists have paid special attention to medicine, and achieved the highest prosperity and wisdom in it. Considering humans as the noblest creatures, attempts to preserve health of the body and soul was regarded to be of utmost importance. The holy prophet has many obvious remarks for health preservation and relieving physical and psychological illnesses. These points were collected and published in different books, called “Tib al-nabi.” Moreover, there are many quotations from Imams in the field of medicine and health preservation. Some of these remarks are considered in “Nahj al-Balagha” of Imam Ali and some collections called “Tibb-al Sadegh” and “Tibb-al Reza.” In all these texts, great emphasis has been paid on human dignity and preservation of health and well-being.According to Islamic teachings, great Iranian physicians also have considered these concepts in their writings, and have followed these points.

The Tashrihi Mansuri (Mansuri’s Anatomy) is the most comprehensive Persial-language anatomy textbook of Iranian medical history, which has greatly influenced anatomy textbooks written thereafter. In this paper, the Oradeh treatise of the book was investigated and some parts have been compared with modern knowledge. Twenty one points including the following topics were analyzed and reviewed. Al-Mansuri used the expression “Ergh-e Saken” (stationary vessel) for veins, and pointed to the following items: origin of veins, arterial veins, nutritional transportation from blood vessels to tissues by diffusion, portal vein and its function, positioning and function of vena cava, the eight tributaries of portal vein, gastric blood supply, splenic vein branches, intrahepatic blood circulation, inferior phrenic veins, pericardio-phrenic veins, vena cava branches, the branches that drain into superior vena cava, venous branches of internal thoracic vein, internal jugular veins, jugular vessels, sphincters, arm venous plexus, and the terminal branches of femoral vein.

This study investigates the linguistic expression features of patients’ identity and gender in old medical texts. Six medical texts from the fourth up to about thirteenth century has been studied. During these years, medical practice is noticed to be more scientific than the years before or even after that. That is, it was far from superstitious and used to follow the scientific approaches of the day. In this study, we focused on the book “Khofi Allaee” in more details, because of its scientific context and its importance in the history of medical sciences. This book was intended to be a kind of pocket book for people, to be read while in the trips or something being accessible at the time of emergency when they are out. The word ‘Khofi’ in Arabic language means ‘boot’ and the book was published in two volumes so that each volume could be placed inside one of the boots while the carrier (person) was out. Identity and power are among the issues investigated broadly in sociolinguistics. The present study was designed to analyze the books in through sociolinguistics perspective. More specifically, the study tends to find the gender as well as the social status of the patient implied in the text.

Khuz and Khuzi and their books, Shusemahi and Jame-al Khuz are frequently cited in major sources of ancient Iranian and Islamic medicine. However, unfortunately these books are not available today.In this study, the four books, "Al-Qanun fi’l-Tibb" (the Canon of Medicine) by Avicenna, "Al-Hawi" by Rhazes, "al-Jami al-Mufrada al-Aghzie- va al-Adwiya" by Ibn al-Baytar, and "Al-Seidene" by Al-Biruni, are thoroughly investigated for the first time and all citations related to Khuz and Khuzi were determined.Khuz and Khuzi were cited 217 times in Al-Hawi, 16 times in Al-Qanun, 44 times in al-Jami al-Mufrada al-Aghzie- va al-Adwiya, and 17 times in Al-Seidene. Considering phrases such as "Khuz agreed that ...", "most Khuz believe that...", "It was mentioned in Jame-Al Khuz", "Al-Khuz in Shusemahi …", "in Shusemahi, Al-Khuz mentioned that ...", it seems that for the first time in the history of medicine, the scientists of Jondishapur medical school composed their viewpoints and ideas, based on a consensus of the time over them, thus rendering due credit to the scholars who had worked on the same topic prior to them. Moreover, considering the direct citations of Biruni and Ibn al-Baytar to Khuz and Khuzi without any intermediate links, it is possible that in those days some books of Khuzi were accessible in different regions, as far as Andalus.

The book “Tohfe- al- Momenin” is a comprehensive pharmacopeia of singular and compound drugs, written by a great Iranian physician and pharmacist, Seyed Mohammad Momen Tonekaboni in 1080 according to Islamic lunar calendar. A lot of manuscripts, numerous copies, and translation into Arabic and Turkish languages which took place shortly after its publication imply its importance. This book is still most valuable among the followers of traditional medicine. Besides quotation of remarks from previous works, the author adds his own experiences and innovations. In this article, we tried to address some experiences and innovations implied in “Tohfe- al- Momenin”.