arabic Medicine history

Arabic Medicine

From the fall of Rome until the European Renaissance of the 15th century, the Islamic world was the center of medical knowledge. Greek medical texts were translated into Arabic and augmented with sophisticated pharmaceutical information.

Many herbs and spices like nutmeg, cloves, and mace were not originally valued as cooking ingredients, but as medicines, and many arabic medicinal terms--drug, syrup, alcohol, alkali, etc.--remain in western languages.

The Arabs improved many Greek and Roman medical, especially ocular, techniques. Additionally, they developed first-class civilian hospitals and used them not only to care for the blind, crippled, and chronically ill, but to also train medical personnel. Usually, these facilities included medical and surgical wards, a surgical room, a pharmacy, a clinic, a library, a lecture room, a chapel, and a mosque. Some hospitals employed musicians and singers to comfort the patients with a type of musical therapy.

After several malpractice scandals in the 10th century, doctors were required to pass formal tests before being allowed to practice on their own. Similar tests for pharmacists were established as well.