Artistic scene of Al-Zahrawi treating a patient while students look on. Credits: Wellcome Library, London (Source)
The oldest medical manuscript written in England around 1250 according to The British Medical Journal has startling similarity with Al-Zahrawi's volume:
"This interesting relic consists of eighty-nine leaves of volume, written in beautiful gothic script in the Latin tongue. The work contains six separate treatises, of which the first and most important is the DE CHIRURGIA OF ALBU-HASIM [sic] (Albucasis, Albucasim ). This occupies forty four leaves, three of which are missing. It may be contended that this really is the oldest extant medical textbook written in England."[4]
Thus, in conclusion, Al-Zahrawi was not only one of the greatest surgeons of medieval Islam, but a great educationist and psychiatrist as well. He devoted a substantial section in the Tasrif to child education and behaviour, table etiquette, school curriculum, and academic specialisation.[5]
In his native city of Cordoba there is a street called 'Al-Bucasis' named after him. Across the river Wadi Al-Kabir on the other side of the city, in the Calla Hurra Museum, his instruments are displayed in his honour. As a tribute, his 200 surgical instruments were reproduced by Fuat Sezgin and exhibited in 1992 in Madrid's Archaeological Museum. A catalogue, El-legado Cientifico Andalusi, published by the museum, has good colour photos and manuscripts, some of which are on Al-Zahrawi's achievements, legacy and influence.
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Figure 5: A copper spoon used as a medical implement to press down the tongue (dated from the 3rd century H/ 9th century CE, Abbasid period) preserved at the Museum of Islamic Art in Cairo. This tool demonstrates that the physicians of the Islamic medical tradition attached much importance to medicine and medical tools in various areas of treatment and how they developed them. A detailed description of these tools can be found in the book Al-Tasrif of al-Zahrawi. (Source).
Hakim Saead, from Hamdard Foundation in Karachi, Pakistan, has a permanent display of silver surgical instruments of Al-Zahrawi in the library of the Foundation. He also published a colour booklet. Professor Ahmed Dhieb of Tunis has also studied the surgical instruments and reconstructed them; they were displayed in the 36th International Congress for the History of Medicine held in Tunis City in Tunisia. In this exhibition, all surgical instruments of Al-Zahrawi were described and illustrated in detail in three languages - Arabic, French and English under the title Tools of Civilisation.
The oldest medical manuscript written in England around 1250 according to The British Medical Journal has startling similarity with Al-Zahrawi's volume:
"This interesting relic consists of eighty-nine leaves of volume, written in beautiful gothic script in the Latin tongue. The work contains six separate treatises, of which the first and most important is the DE CHIRURGIA OF ALBU-HASIM [sic] (Albucasis, Albucasim ). This occupies forty four leaves, three of which are missing. It may be contended that this really is the oldest extant medical textbook written in England."[4]
Thus, in conclusion, Al-Zahrawi was not only one of the greatest surgeons of medieval Islam, but a great educationist and psychiatrist as well. He devoted a substantial section in the Tasrif to child education and behaviour, table etiquette, school curriculum, and academic specialisation.[5]
In his native city of Cordoba there is a street called 'Al-Bucasis' named after him. Across the river Wadi Al-Kabir on the other side of the city, in the Calla Hurra Museum, his instruments are displayed in his honour. As a tribute, his 200 surgical instruments were reproduced by Fuat Sezgin and exhibited in 1992 in Madrid's Archaeological Museum. A catalogue, El-legado Cientifico Andalusi, published by the museum, has good colour photos and manuscripts, some of which are on Al-Zahrawi's achievements, legacy and influence.
Large image
Figure 5: A copper spoon used as a medical implement to press down the tongue (dated from the 3rd century H/ 9th century CE, Abbasid period) preserved at the Museum of Islamic Art in Cairo. This tool demonstrates that the physicians of the Islamic medical tradition attached much importance to medicine and medical tools in various areas of treatment and how they developed them. A detailed description of these tools can be found in the book Al-Tasrif of al-Zahrawi. (Source).
Hakim Saead, from Hamdard Foundation in Karachi, Pakistan, has a permanent display of silver surgical instruments of Al-Zahrawi in the library of the Foundation. He also published a colour booklet. Professor Ahmed Dhieb of Tunis has also studied the surgical instruments and reconstructed them; they were displayed in the 36th International Congress for the History of Medicine held in Tunis City in Tunisia. In this exhibition, all surgical instruments of Al-Zahrawi were described and illustrated in detail in three languages - Arabic, French and English under the title Tools of Civilisation.
