Hippocrates and Avicenna

Two of the Greatest Physician - Scientists of All Time By Christos T. Lolas, M.D. This presentation is about two of the great physician scientists and medical writers. Hippocrates of Greece and Avicenna of Persia lived in different periods, many centuries apart. Both formulated a holistic healing system for the treatment of diseases. Their written works guided many generations of physicians in Asia and Europe for generations following their death.

Hippocrates (440 360 B.C.)

Hippocrates was born in 440 B.C. on the Greek Island of Cos where he lived most of his life. Reportedly, he died in 360 B.C. in Thessaly, a region on the mainland. It was Hippocrates who finally freed medicine from the shackles of magic and superstition, and belief in the supernatural. He was the founder of the Medical School of Cos. He showed that signs and symptoms of a disease were caused by the natural reaction of the body of the diseased process and the main role of the physician was to aid the natural resistance of the body to overcome the disease. His theory was that disease results from their disharmony and imbalance of the four humors (blood, phlegm, yellow bile and black bile. The physicians job was to restore health by correcting this imbalance. He travelled to many places, collecting medical information and data. The Hippocratic Corpus is a collection of over 60 works of his own and his students of the Medical School of Cos. Hippocrates was the personification of the ideal physician. He is most remembered today for his famous oath in which a doctor solemnly vows to perform the practice of medicine by the highest ethical standards.

Avicenna (Ibn Sina) (980 1037 A.D.)

Avicenna has been called the father of modern medicine - the prince physician. Avicenna was born in Bokhara in 980 A.D. As a child, he showed a prodigious intellect. By the age of ten he had memorized the entire Koran, and by the age of 17, he had mastered the art of medicine. He established himself as a physician scientist and political administrator, practicing both in the courts of various Persian rulers during the disintegration of the Abbacic dynasty. He moved to Ray and

then to Hamadan, and Isfahan. After extensive travelling, he returned to Hamadan where he died in 1037. He wrote mainly from memory, mostly in Arabic, the language of the Arabic world and in Farsi, his mother tongue. He wrote on just about every area of knowledge physics, mathematics, economics, and philosophy. He was a devoted student of Aristotle, music, natural history, religion and of course, medicine. His major contribution to medical science was the monumental book, AlGanun fi al- Tibb (The Canon of Medicine) and the Kitab al-Shifa, (The Book of Healing). The Canon of Medicine, an immense encyclopedia of Medicine, examines the entire medical knowledge available from ancient and Muslim sources emphasizing the interaction between psychology and health. He based his medical system on the humeral and vitalizing aspects of the medical practices of Hippocrates and Galen. He took a universal perspective by travelling extensively collecting medical knowledge from many countries (Greece, Egypt, Persia, India, Tibet and China). The Canon for centuries after was the standard textbook in many European medical schools. The Book of Healing, was a monumental work embodying a vast field of knowledge from philosophy to the sciences. His philosophy synthesized Aristotelian tradition, preplatonic influences and Muslim theology. These two great fathers of Medicine, Hippocrates and Avicenna have been a constant and enduring source of inspiration to physicians and healers down through the ages and up until modern times. As cardiac specialists, we are reminded Of the importance of the holistic approach to managing our patients. To express honestly our ideas, learn from others and share experiences by travelling and participating in scientific meetings, just as we are now doing in Mashhad. To teach young colleagues the art of our specialty. To maintain the ethical standards of the Hippocratic Oath when practicing our specialty. To enrich our lives by opening our minds as Aviccena to the other sciences and arts.