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Arabic
:
In the 7th century ad a vast portion of the Eastern world was overrun
by Arab conquerors. In Persia (now Iran), the Arabs learned of Greek
medicine at the schools of the Nestorian Christians, a sect in exile
from the Byzantine Empire. These schools had preserved many texts
lost in the destruction of the Alexandria Library. Translations
from Greek were instrumental in the development of an Arabic system
of medicine throughout the Arab-speaking world. Followers of the
system, known as Arabists, did much to elevate professional standards
by insisting on examinations for physicians before licensure. They
introduced numerous therapeutic chemical substances and excelled
in the fields of ophthalmology and public hygiene.
Important
among Arabist physicians was al-Razi, who was the first to identify
smallpox and measles and to suggest blood as the cause of infectious
diseases. Avenzoar was the first to describe the parasite causing
the skin disease scabies and was among the earliest to question
the authority of Galen. Maimonides wrote extensively on diet, hygiene,
and toxicology, the study of chemicals and their effect on the body.
Al-Quarashi, also known as Ibn al-Nafis, wrote commentaries on the
writings of Hippocrates and treatises on diet and eye diseases.
He was the first to determine the pathway of blood, from the right
to the left ventricle via the lungs.
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