Avicenna On the Breath from the Canon of Medicine Volume 1 - Softcover

Avicenna; Adapted By: Laleh Bakhtiar

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1567449980 ISBN 13: 9781567449983

Publisher: Kazi Publications, 2012

Synopsis

The breath plays a most important role in natural healing or traditional medicine. Avicenna in his Law of Natural Healing (Canon of Medicine), Lecture 6, describes its origin, forms, sources and relations to being. It also contains O. Cameron Gruner s extensive endnotes.

About this title

About the Author

In many ways, Avicenna resembles the great geniuses and humanists of the European Renaissance and even makes them appear less original. Indeed, the return to Antiquity, the universal curiosity of scholars and artists, the search for efficiency, the rejection of magical explanations, scientific rigor, the experimental method and the critical mind are usually considered as characteristics of the Renaissance. But Avicenna had been practicing the methods of Greek science more than five centuries before the Renaissance, and, as stated above, it was thanks to him (and several other scholars of the Arab-Persian world) that the West rediscovered this part of its history and these roots. He personified a curiosity of universal scope, one might say the whole of human knowledge concentrated in one person. His scientific methods were based on rigor, experimentation, observation and critical thought. We could also mention that the organization of the University, with courses, examinations, diplomas and the physicians oath, was inherited from the Islamic world of the 10th and 11th centuries. UNESCO Brochure, Ibn Sina, 2004.

Review

It will suffice here to evoke a few glorious names without contemporary equivalents in the West: Jabir ibn Haiyan, al-Kindi, al-Biruni, Ibn Sina. . . . A magnificent array of names which it would not be difficult to extend. If anyone tells you that the Middle Ages were scientifically sterile, just quote these men to him, all of whom flourished within a short period, 750 to 1100 CE. --George Sarton, Introduction to the History of Science.

Ibn Sina was particularly noted for his contributions to the fields of medicine . . . . . His two most important works are The Book of Healing and Al Qanun, known as the Canon of Medicine in the West. . . . The [Canon of Medicine or Law of Natural Healing] (circa 1030 A.D.) is the one of the most famous books in the history of medicine. In it [Avicenna] surveyed the entire medical knowledge available from ancient Christian Latin and Muslim sources, and the book is enriched by the author's original contributions. The Canon became the standard of medical science and was on par with works of Hippocrates (460 377 B.C.) and Galen (129 199 A.D.) in all important libraries of European universities. Ibn Sina begins his Canon with the following words: It is my heart s desire, to start off with speaking about the general and common principles of both parts of medicine, i.e., theory and practice. The first translation into Latin was written in the 12th century by Gerhard von Cremona (1135 1187), and the first Hebrew version appeared around 1491. In the Arabic language the Canon of Medicine appeared in 1593 and is thought to be the second book ever printed in Arabic. The Canon gained widespread popularity only after the introduction of typography in the 15th and 16th centuries, but its impact throughout Europe remained steady until the end of the 18th century. . . . --Asita S. Sarrafzadeh, M.D. Ibn Sina.

Abu Ali al-Husayn ibn Abd Allah ibn Sina, known to many by his westernized name, Avicenna, wrote the Canon of Medicine [Law of Natural Healing] around 1000 CE, squarely in what Lyons defines as the Golden Age of Islamic culture, between the 8th and 13th centuries. A comprehensive encyclopedia in five volumes, the Canon is widely regarded as the most important book on medicine ever written. The medical historian, Dr. William Osler, described it as a medical bible for longer than any other work in his Evolution of Modern Medicine. Drawing on the tradition of Muslim universalism, Ibn Sina incorporated sources from Greek, Roman, Arabic, Indian, and Chinese medicine, his work encompassing an almost complete scope of medical knowledge at the time. For this and other reasons, the Canon maintained its importance as an educational manual for an unprecedented period, appearing on medical school course syllabi well into the 17th century. --Ibn Sina s Canon of Medicine, A Medical Bible.

Ibn Sina was particularly noted for his contributions to the fields of medicine . . . . . His two most important works are The Book of Healing and Al Qanun, known as the Canon of Medicine in the West. . . . The [Canon of Medicine or Law of Natural Healing] (circa 1030 A.D.) is the one of the most famous books in the history of medicine. In it [Avicenna] surveyed the entire medical knowledge available from ancient Christian Latin and Muslim sources, and the book is enriched by the author's original contributions. The Canon became the standard of medical science and was on par with works of Hippocrates (460 377 B.C.) and Galen (129 199 A.D.) in all important libraries of European universities. Ibn Sina begins his Canon with the following words: It is my heart s desire, to start off with speaking about the general and common principles of both parts of medicine, i.e., theory and practice. The first translation into Latin was written in the 12th century by Gerhard von Cremona (1135 1187), and the first Hebre --Ibn Sina s Canon of Medicine, A Medical Bible.

Ibn Sina was particularly noted for his contributions to the fields of medicine . . . . . His two most important works are The Book of Healing and Al Qanun, known as the Canon of Medicine in the West. . . . The [Canon of Medicine or Law of Natural Healing] (circa 1030 A.D.) is the one of the most famous books in the history of medicine. In it [Avicenna] surveyed the entire medical knowledge available from ancient Christian Latin and Muslim sources, and the book is enriched by the author's original contributions. The Canon became the standard of medical science and was on par with works of Hippocrates (460 377 B.C.) and Galen (129 199 A.D.) in all important libraries of European universities. Ibn Sina begins his Canon with the following words: It is my heart s desire, to start off with speaking about the general and common principles of both parts of medicine, i.e., theory and practice. The first translation into Latin was written in the 12th century by Gerhard von Cremona (1135 1187), and the first Hebrew version appeared around 1491. In the Arabic language the Canon of Medicine appeared in 1593 and is thought to be the second book ever printed in Arabic. The Canon gained widespread popularity only after the introduction of typography in the 15th and 16th centuries, but its impact throughout Europe remained steady until the end of the 18th century. . . . --Asita S. Sarrafzadeh, M.D. Ibn Sina.

Abu Ali al-Husayn ibn Abd Allah ibn Sina, known to many by his westernized name, Avicenna, wrote the Canon of Medicine [Law of Natural Healing] around 1000 CE, squarely in what Lyons defines as the Golden Age of Islamic culture, between the 8th and 13th centuries. A comprehensive encyclopedia in five volumes, the Canon is widely regarded as the most important book on medicine ever written. The medical historian, Dr. William Osler, described it as a medical bible for longer than any other work in his Evolution of Modern Medicine. Drawing on the tradition of Muslim universalism, Ibn Sina incorporated sources from Greek, Roman, Arabic, Indian, and Chinese medicine, his work encompassing an almost complete scope of medical knowledge at the time. For this and other reasons, the Canon maintained its importance as an educational manual for an unprecedented period, appearing on medical school course syllabi well into the 17th century. --Ibn Sina s Canon of Medicine, A Medical Bible.

Edition details

• Publisher: Kazi Publications
• Publication date: 2012
• ISBN 10: 1567449980
• ISBN 13: 9781567449983
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 108