Canon of Medicine

Medicine and pharmacologyThe book is known for its description of contagious diseases and sexually transmitted diseases,[46] quarantine to limit the spread of infectious diseases, and testing of medicines. Ibn Sīnā adopted, from the Greeks, the theory that epidemics are caused by pollution in the air (miasma).[47] It classifies and describes diseases, and outlines their assumed causes. Hygiene, simple and complex medicines, and functions of parts of the body are also covered. The Canon agrees with Aristotle (and disagrees with Hippocrates) that tuberculosis was contagious, a fact which was not universally accepted in Europe until centuries later. It also describes the symptoms and complications of diabetes. Both forms of facial paralysis were described in-depth.
The Canon of Medicine discussed how to effectively test new medicines:
• The drug must be free from any extraneous accidental quality.
• It must be used on a simple, not a composite, disease.
• The drug must be tested with two contrary types of diseases, because sometimes a drug cures one disease by Its essential qualities and another by its accidental ones.
• The quality of the drug must correspond to the strength of the disease. For example, there are some drugs whose heat is less than the coldness of certain diseases, so that they would have no effect on them.
• The time of action must be observed, so that essence and accident are not confused.
• The effect of the drug must be seen to occur constantly or in many cases, for if this did not happen, it was an accidental effect.
• The experimentation must be done with the human body, for testing a drug on a lion or a horse might not prove anything about its effect on man.
An Arabic edition of the Canon appeared at Rome in 1593, and a Hebrew version at Naples in 1491. Of the Latin version there were about thirty editions, founded on the original translation byGerard de Sabloneta. In the 15th century a commentary on the text of the Canon was composed.