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Ibn Sina, known in Europe as Avicenna, completed his Canon of Medicine in 1025: a five-book encyclopaedia of the medical knowledge of his time. Translated into Latin in the 12th century, it became a standard textbook in European universities for centuries.

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Ibn Sina (c. 980–1037) was born near Bukhara, in today's Uzbekistan, into a Persian family, and served as a physician at several courts in Iran. The Canon's five books cover the basic principles of medicine and anatomy; simple remedies, listed alphabetically; diseases of each part of the body; conditions affecting the whole body, such as fevers; and compound medicines. It combined the Greek medicine of Hippocrates and Galen with Aristotle's philosophy and knowledge from Persian and Indian medicine. Ibn Sina stressed testing remedies by experience and warned that a mixture can act more strongly than its ingredients suggest. The Latin version, Canon medicinae, entered university courses from the 14th century, was first printed in 1472 and was still being taught at Padua in 1715. It remains a key text of Unani (“Greek”) medicine, a traditional system practised in India.

Türkçe oku
Avrupa'da Avicenna adıyla tanınan İbn Sina, El-Kanun fi't-Tıb (Tıbbın Kanunu) adlı eserini 1025'te tamamladı. Döneminin tıp bilgisini beş kitapta toplayan bu ansiklopedi 12. yüzyılda Latinceye çevrildi ve Avrupa üniversitelerinde yüzyıllar boyunca temel ders kitabı olarak okutuldu.

İbn Sina 980 dolaylarında, bugünkü Özbekistan'da Buhara yakınlarında, Fars bir ailede doğdu; İran'daki çeşitli saraylarda hekimlik yaptı ve 1037'de öldü. Kanun'un beş kitabı sırasıyla tıbbın temel ilkelerini ve anatomiyi, alfabetik olarak dizilmiş basit ilaçları, vücudun her bölümüne özgü hastalıkları, ateşli hastalıklar gibi bütün vücudu etkileyen durumları ve bileşik ilaçları ele alır. Eser, Hipokrat ile Galenos'un Yunan tıbbını Aristoteles'in felsefesiyle ve İran ile Hint tıbbının birikimiyle birleştirir. İbn Sina ilaçların deneyimle sınanması gerektiğini vurgular; karışımların, içlerindeki maddelerden tek tek beklenenden çok daha güçlü etki gösterebileceğini de hatırlatır. Canon medicinae adlı Latince çevirisi 14. yüzyıldan itibaren üniversite derslerine girdi, ilk kez 1472'de basıldı ve Padova'da 1715'te hâlâ okutuluyordu. Eser, Hindistan'da uygulanan ve adını “Yunan” sözcüğünden alan geleneksel Unani tıbbının da temel kitaplarındandır.

Sources and further reading

Background reading: The Canon of Medicine
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