Global Journal of Medical Research, K: Interdisciplinary, Volume 22 Issue 1

write their work. By the 13th century, the leading doctors of the Islamic world were Muslims. But by this time, philosopher-doctors, such as Ibn S ī n ā , had been replaced by jurist-doctors such as Ibn an-Naf ī s (609-687 AH-1213-1288 AD), who was a critic of the great medical canon of Ibn S ī n ā ( al-Q ā n ū n f īṭ - ṭ ibb ). Ibn S ī n ā describes noble (heart, liver, spleen, arteries) and subjugated organs (stomach, intestines, veins), processes assigned to the right and left sides. The organs are philosophically connected. The liver governs the right side, the spleen governs the left one. In his book, Ibn S ī n ā often begins his statements as ’Galen said,’ or ’according to Aristotle.’ He quotes the thoughts of one ancient author and another. For example, at Galen, arteries no longer contain air, as Aristotle believes, but a mixture of refined blood and air. (Ibn S ī n ā accepts Galen.) Or, for example, as regards the centers of the influential forces, according to Galenos, each faculty has a specific centers in the body, as Ibn S ī na confesses. According to Aristotle, however, the source of every faculty is the heart. (Ibn S ī n ā , Volume 1/Book 1/91, 1987: Volume 1) Ibn S ī n ā follows the theoretical system of Galen for the most part. The anatomy of blood vessels is contained in the fourth chapter of the first volume. The author takes the description of the arteries ( aš-šar ā y ī n/ al- ʻ ur ū q a ḍ - ḍ aw ā rib ) forward, followed by reports of veins ( al- ʼ awrida/ al- ʻ ur ū q as-s ā kina ). The reason I do not analyze the descriptions in this particular order is that, in its summary of the veins, the text also reveals the influence of the Galenic idea of the vascular system forming an integral whole that determines the functioning of the organism, this idea serving as a general introduction to the anatomy of the particular arteries. 7 Aristotle developed his teaching on the theory of the four fold causation from Plato's ideology. According to Plato, the material principle alone is not enough to explain the movement, effects (shaping spiritual principle) are also needed. Plato saw the idea as a shaping principle. In Aristotle, the four causes that cause change are the material cause, the active cause, the formal cause, and the ultimate cause. In his theory, he started from the movement (the development of beings) in which matter takes on a new internal form. It performs this shaping of the material while achieving some purpose. The heart is located in the middle of the chest, lending a kind of balance between the two vascular systems. The left side has been exalted because the divine soul comes from the air, from nature, to the left side of the heart, and from here, it floods the whole body through the arteries. 8 The expression ( min at-ta ǧ w ī fi-l-aymani il ā at- ta ǧ w ī fi-l-aysari manfa ḏ un ) can also be interpreted as meaning that this ’passage’ is opening of the truncus pulmonary starting from the right ventricle and leaning towards the left one. The truncus pulmonary leaves the base of the heart below the the aorta opening, beginning from the left ventricle. (Below the aortic arch, is divided into two branches, into the right pulmonary artery and left pulmonary artery and branching out in the lungs.) The opening of the blood vessel thus bends from the right ventricle to the left ventricle. ( fa amm ā al- manfa ḏ u alla ḏī min at-ta ǧ w ī f al-ayman il ā al-aysar fainnahu min al- ǧā nib al-ayman awsa ʿ u ṯ umma yaduqqu qal ī lan qal ī lan il ā an yantah ī il ā al- ǧā nib al-aysar. ) (As for the opening that runs from the right ventricle to the left The right side is dedicated to mundane functions, like turning food into blood and nourishing the organs, and removing excess. The right half of the body is operated by the left half, through the nerves originating from the brain. In the brain, the two sides merge . Al-Ma ǧū s ī ( ʻ Al ī b. al- ʻ Abb ā s) (Haly Abbas) (died cc. 982-994 AD/ 371-383 AH) mentions a ’third cavity’ ( at-ta ǧ w ī f a ṯ - ṯā li ṯ ) called manfa ḏ when describing the ventricles of the heart, which Manfred Ullmann translates as ’passage’. ( manfa ḏ -exit, passage, Fonahn, 1922:1935. serial number) ( min at-ta ǧ w ī f al-ayman il ā at- ta ǧ w ī f al-aysar manfa ḏ un yusammihu qawmun ta ǧ w ī fan ṯā li ṯ an wa-laysa ḏā lika ka ḏā lika .) (al-Mağ ū s ī 1939: 64). (The heart has a right and a left ventricle separated by a partition. In this partition there is a passage (manfadh) which many people (Aristotle is meant) call a 'third ventricle', but this is incorrect.) (Ullmann 1978: 65). This term ( manfa ḏ ) is missing from the heart description of Ibn S ī n ā (see Ibn S ī n ā 1987: Volume 2/Book 3 1195-1196). 8 According to al-Ma ǧū s ī , the cone-shaped heart surrounded by the lungs also leans to the left side because the’ animal soul’ is based here. (Ullmann 1978: 65) 9 Year 2022 Global Journal of Medical Research Volume XXII Issue I Version I ( D ) K © 2022 Global Journals Basics of the Medieval Arabic Medicine: The Vascular Systems in the Canon of Medicine of Avicenna Incorporating a Translation of a Part of the First Book In about 1025, Ibn S ī n ā completed a five- volume medical manual entitled al-Q ā n ū n f īṭ - ṭ ibb (Canon of Medicine), which until the 17th century served as the basis not only for Arabic but also for European medical books. According to him, medicine is a particular class of sciences that includes theoretical and practical sciences. The foundations of his medical creed are the humoral theory and medical ethics of Hippocrates (460- 375 B.C.), the theory and anatomy of the four-reason causalit y 7 of Aristotle (384-322 B.C.), and theory and practice-based anatomical descriptions of natural faculties of Galen (129-200 B.C). (Heldreth 2014: 1, 3, 11). The term manfa ḏ , which is explained concerning to the ventricles as ta ǧ w ī f, or "cavity" (cavity, Fonahn 1922:3189), is later repeatedly described in the description of al-Ma ǧū s ī when it comes to the openings ( f ū h ā t ) of the great blood vessels entering or exiting the heart. (Here, the meaning of manfa ḏ is the same as that of f ū ha .) ( amm ā al-manfa ḏā ni al-la ḏā ni f ī at-tağw ī f al- aysar fa-a ḥ aduhum ā f ū hat al- ʻ irqi a ḍ - ḍā ribi ). As for the two passage ways in the left ventricle, one of them is the opening of the artery). (al-Mağ ū s ī 1939: 64).