Journal of Research on History of Medicine
Volume:4 Issue: 2, May 2015

Conjoined twins, was a known type of birth in antiquity. It was mentioned in manuscripts and depicted in terracotta figurines and vase paintings. Such findings were discovered in a variety of territories. Religion, local cult, and simple iconography of a known phenomenon create a debate among scholars to annotate their discovery. Gods and goddesses, magic figurines, sacred marriage, a binary hypostasis, or just Conjoined twins?

Traditional medicines, according to the World Health Organization, are defined as “the sum total of the knowledge, skill, and practices based on the beliefs, theories, and experiences indigenous to different cultures that are based and developed historically. Due to the increasing uses of traditional medicines worldwide, it seems that cognition of their principles and foundations are necessary.” The two important schools of Traditional Persian Medicine (TPM) and Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) have many similar concepts; one of the most fundamental is the theory of Arkan in TPM and theory of five elements in TCM. This is a review study, which extracted, classified and compared related concepts in TPM and TCM, conducted on original sources. To use the experience of other researchers and to find published articles in this regard, the Web databases SID, Magiran, Iranmedex, Google scholar, Pubmed and Embase were searched. The results are categorized under 12 categories. Generally, although there are considerable similarities between theory and functions of Arkan in TPM and theory of five elements in TCM, there are differences between the basic principles and the outcomes of these two theories. The comparison between these two theories shows that although they derive from similar theoretical and philosophical origins, that TPM arises from a monotheistic (not necessarily Islamic) viewpoint while TCM comes mostly from a metaphysical point of view. Furthermore, there are four principles in TPM but five in TCM. In addition, principles in TCM and TPM differ as follows: while in the former, the principles (having interactions in a dynamic process) are assumed to be directly related to phenomena, in the latter, they are explained with the mediated concept of “Mizaj”.

Although esthetic is a relative issue, depending upon the country and culture, almost all around the world, there is a consensus that a beautiful set of teeth is the one which is white and bright and is aligned regularly. In Iran also the main feature of a beautiful tooth is its whiteness. During the past decades and centuries, tooth discoloration was considered as an esthetic issue and different methods, such as titled tooth bleaching, was used to address this problem. Our predecessors also appreciated white teeth and one chapter of Avicenna’s major compilation, Canon of Medicine, discussed about this. A number of questions may arise in this regard: is the method suggested by Avicenna for treating tooth discoloration efficient? Could he differentiate between the various causes of tooth discoloration? In spite of going through too many trials and errors, traditional medicine, with its long history, was able to achieve partial success in diagnosing and treating diseases. And as Avicenna was one of the pioneers in traditional medicine, this research discussed tooth discoloration already dealt with in Canon of Medicine (part 10 of 7th chapter). In spite of various causes of tooth discoloration, in the last century, tooth bleaching has been accomplished by using chemicals that activate oxidation. Before the invention of chemical method, the mechanical approach was used, abrading the surface of tooth. It was also efficient in treating a special kind of discoloration. Avicenna prescribed different herbal, mineral and animal medications in order to treat tooth discoloration. While some of the medications had abrasive effects, some others probably whitened teeth with a mechanism different from oxidation. The result of this research, which was a descriptive-interpretative method, showed that Avicenna’s differential diagnosis between the causes of tooth discoloration resembles more and less the contemporary dentistry, although, the efficiency of his method of treatment should be assessed more in detail by conducting further research.

“Hedayat al-Motealemin fi Teb”, written by Abobakr Ebn Ahmad Akhaveini in the Fourth century, (AH) is his only book left to the present time. From historical prospective, it is, by far, the first medicine book written in Farsi. Today, there are only three copies of the book kept in Badlyan libraries of Oxford, Fateh library of Istanbul and Malek library of Tehran. The reviews done on the three copies assert that the Bodlyan version is the oldest version and the closest one to the original book. From linguistic point of view, the book, containing a lot of information in fields of writing and orthography, verifies the power of Persian language in that era to fully fulfill the needs for writing a comprehensive medical text. Since the scientific aspect of this precious medical book has not been fully investigated, a review of the book will not only show the high status of Akheveini in medical history but also provide novel information on Akhaveini’s therapeutic methods, leading to the studies which help to invent new complementary treatment methods in medicine. In this study, we will review the book, taking linguistic viewpoints and the texture of the book into account. This is followed by discussing the bibliography of the three copies, and finding their differences. Finally, after illustrating the scientific features of the book, we provide some evidence, witnessing the status of this book in the history of medical sciences.

Abu al-Qasim Khalaf Ibn-e-Abbas Zahrawi(936-1013 A.D.), known as Albucasis in west, was one of the greatest physicians in the Islamic world. To many historians, he was considered as the father of modern surgery. His book, Al-Tasrif, e.g., written in 30 chapters, was, in fact, a medical encyclopedia of that era. It was used as one of the main references in medical academic centers for centuries. The 30th chapter of this weighty book was dedicated to surgery. In this chapter, Zahrawidescribed many surgical procedures and introduced about 200 instruments invented for those procedures. In addition to drawing some of the instruments, he explained their size, shape, and application, as well. In the second section of this chapter, named “surgery and instruments”, he explained about the functions of various surgical instruments, used for spliting, piercing and phlebotomizing, including Gamaneh, surgical blade, Makhda’, Nishtar and experiment rod, all of which were available for the surgeon to choose from as needed. The aim of this study, was to describe, design and evaluate the functional quality of a hypothetical module of the instrument “experiment rod”, used for piercing, as presented in Al-Tasrif.