Avicenna's Canon of Medicine

What was discovered

A five-book medical encyclopaedia that systematised Greco-Roman, Indian and Persian knowledge, introduced the notion of contagion, quarantine and rules for drug trials. It was a university text in Europe until the 17th century.

What it led to

• university medical teaching in Europe and the Islamic world
• principles of experimental pharmacology
• clinical medicine based on symptom observation

Built on

• Experimental anatomy and physiology (Galen)c. 170 CE
• Al-Razi (Rhazes) and his distinction between smallpox and measles

Made possible

• Avenzoar's description of the scabies mitec. 1130
• Contagion theory of plague (Ibn Khatima and Ibn al-Khatib)1349-1362
• Mansur ibn Ilyas' illustrated anatomyc. 1390
• clinical trial (drug-testing rules)

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