Avicenna

In some of his work, Pliny the Elder (24—79 Ad) wrote of the heating of wine with flames. In the tenth century, the Persian philosopher Avicenna (980—1037 ad) described a distillation stUl. Magister Salemus wrote about "aqua ardens" around 1150 AD. The German alchemist and philosopher, Albertus Magnus (1200—1280 ad), studied wine distillation, made improvements, and wrote a manuscript on the production of aqua ardens. 

From his speech against Galen, Avicenna and Hippocrates in Basle on 5 June, 1527, see Sudhoff, Paracelsus. Samtliche Werke (1931) vol. 4, 3—4. 

Avicenna. "De congelatione et conglutinatione lapidum." In The alchemy reader, ed. Stanton J. Linden, 95-98.. ... 

Avicenna.De congelatione et conglutinatione lapidum being sections of the Kitab al- Shifa the Latin and Arabic texts edited with an English translation of the latter and with critical notes by E. J. Holmyard and D. C. Mandeville. Edited by Eric John Holmyard and D. C. Mandeville. Paris Geuthner, 1927. 86p. 

Avicenna. Two alchemical treatises attributed to Avicenna by H. E. Stapleton, R. 

Afnan, Soheil M. Avicenna his life and works. London New York Allen Unwin Macmillan, 1958. 298p. 

Corbin, Henry. Avicenna and the visionary recital. London Routledge Kegan Paul, 1960. 423p. 

Wickens, G.M., ed.Avicenna scientist and philosopher. London Luzac, 1952. 

In 1870, Messrs. Allen and Hanburys, pharmacists of London, presented to Berthelot a sample of a manna which had been sent from Lahore by Dr. Burton Brown it was described as an exudation from a spiny bush, Alhagi maurorum, belonging to the Leguminosae. This manna was said to be very abundant in Persia, where it was used as a purgative and even as a food under the name taranjbin. The manna was well known to Avicenna and other writers of the Middle Ages references to them may be found in Von Lippmann s Geschichte des Zuckers, ... 

Through trade with many regions, the Arabians learned and extended medical knowledge. Their major contribution is perhaps the knowledge of medical preparations and distillation methods, although the techniques were probably derived from the practices of alchemists. Avicenna, around ad 900-1000, recorded a vast encyclopedia of medical description and treatment. Another noted physician was Rhazes, who accurately described measles and smallpox. 

Among other Arabian alchemists the most celebrated were Avicenna and Rhasis, who are supposed to have lived some time after Geber and to whom, perhaps, the sulphur-mercury theory may have been to some extent due. 

Paracelsus s lectures had incited controversy and he didn t shy away from provoking more. June 24 was St. John s Day, a day of commencement celebrations when students traditionally hurled whatever they no longer wanted or needed into a bonfire. It was also only three weeks after Paracelsus s inaugural lecture. Cheered on by boisterous students, he joined the merrymaking, publicly burning a book by Galen and the Canon of Avicenna. 

Of the other Arabian alchemists, the most celebrated in the middle ages were Rhasis, Alfarabi, and Avicenna who are supposed to have lived in the 9th and 10th centuries. 

From the middle of this age the Monarchy of all the Arts has been at length derived and conferred on me, Theophrastus Paracelsus, Prince of Philosophy and Medicine. For this purpose I have been chosen by God to extinguish and blot out all the phantasies of elaborate and false works, of delusive and presumptuous words, be they the words of Aristotle, Galen, Avicenna, Mesva, or the dogmas of any among their followers. My theory,... 

Gruner, D. C. Treatise on the Canon of Medicine of Avicenna. London Luzak 1930. 

Al-Razi (Rhazes, 854-925) was a Persian who studied in Baghdad. Al-Razi wrote extensively on medicine, philosophy, astronomy, and alchemy, but he was primarily a physician. Al-Razi was less mystical than his contemporary alchemists and classified chemicals by their origin. According to Al-Razi, chemicals came from either animals, plants, and minerals or were derived from other chemicals. Al-Razi wrote The Comprehensive Book, which was an enormous medical encyclopedia that synthesized medical practices of ancient Greeks, Syrians, Arabs, and Persians. Al-Razi was the first person known to describe the disease smallpox. Most of his alchemical writings have been lost, but Al-Razi believed in the atomic nature of matter. Al-Razi took a systematic approach to science and rejected the idea of divine intervention. His rational methods and descriptions were more consistent with modern science than most individuals of his time. Ali al Husayn ibn Sina (Avicenna, 980-1037) was another Persian physician whose voluminous works, including The... 

Canon of Medicine, guided the practice of medicine for 500 years after his death. Avicenna rejected the idea that a base metal could be transformed into gold. Avicenna claimed correctly that diseases were spread through air and water. Much of Avicenna s teachings questioned the status quo and teachings of Aristotle. 

By Avicenna s time, around 1000, the Arab Empire was in decline from both internal and external forces. Factions of the Islamic faith battled one another. A general intolerance of science pervaded Arab culture, and scientists were not free to publish their ideas. Christian Crusaders from the West and Mongol invaders from the East exerted pressure on the Arabic world. As traditional Arab regions were recaptured by Europeans, the classical knowledge that had been preserved and advanced by the Arabs influenced European thinking. Major Arab learning centers, such as Toledo in Spain, provided works to rekindle European science. From the twelfth century, major advances in the chemical arts shifted from Arab lands to western Europe. 

Ashm. 1490, fos. 81—6. Other versions of the dialogue have not been identified. That Forman was using a printed, Latin text by Avicenna is clear from his reference to To. 458, primus ordo est . For Avicenna see Nancy Siraisi, Avicenna in Renaissance Italy The Canon and Medical Teaching in Italian Universities afrer isoo (Princeton, 1987). 

Similarly, under the definition of the word pestilence, Forman quoted the Arabic medical authorities Haly Abbas and Avicenna, and concluded But I sale the pestilence or plague of pestilence is an infectiouse disease and infecteth the blode of man by reason of the ayer or smell therof whereof ensueth the botch and the blain and the token.Again he supported his position with examples from the Bible. 

---