The Evolution of Modern Medicine: A Series of Lectures Delivered at Yale University on the Silliman Foundation in April, 1913Osler, William, Sir
History
The Evolution of Modern Medicine: A Series of Lectures Delivered at Yale University on the Silliman Foundation in April, 1913
Osler, William, Sir
Medicine -- History
Innumerable manuscripts of it exist: of one of the most beautiful,
a Hebrew version (Bologna Library), I give an illustration. A Latin
version was printed in 1472 and there are many later editions, the last
in 1663. Avicenna was not only a successful writer, but the prototype
of the successful physician who was at the same time statesman, teacher,
philosopher and literary man. Rumor has it that he became dissipated,
and a contemporary saying was that all his philosophy could not make him
moral, nor all his physic teach him to preserve his health. He enjoyed a
great reputation as a poet. I reproduce a page of a manuscript of one of
his poems, which we have in the Bodleian Library. Prof. A.V.W. Jackson
says that some of his verse is peculiarly Khayyamesque, though he
antedated Omar by a century. That "large Infidel" might well have
written such a stanza as
From Earth's dark centre unto Saturn's Gate
I've solved all problems of this world's Estate,
From every snare of Plot and Guile set free,
Each bond resolved, saving alone Death's Fate.
His hymn to the Deity might have been written by Plato and rivals the
famous one of Cleanthes.(14) A casual reader gets a very favorable
impression of Avicenna. The story of his dominion over the schools in
the Middle Ages is one of the most striking in our history. Perhaps we
feel that Leclerc exaggerates when he says: "Avicenna is an intellectual
phenomenon. Never perhaps has an example been seen of so precocious,
quick and wide an intellect extending and asserting itself with so
strange and indefatigable an activity." The touch of the man never
reached me until I read some of his mystical and philosophical writings
translated by Mehren.(15) It is Plato over again. The beautiful allegory
in which men are likened to birds snared and caged until set free by the
Angel of Death might be met with anywhere in the immortal Dialogues.
The tractate on Love is a commentary on the Symposium; and the essay on
Destiny is Greek in spirit without a trace of Oriental fatalism, as you
may judge from the concluding sentence, which I leave you as his special
message: "Take heed to the limits of your capacity and you will arrive
at a knowledge of the truth! How true is the saying:--Work ever and to
each will come that measure of success for which Nature has designed
him." Avicenna died in his fifty-eighth year. When he saw that physic
was of no avail, resigning himself to the inevitable, he sold his goods,
distributed the money to the poor, read the Koran through once every
three days, and died in the holy month of Ramadan. His tomb at Hamadan,
the ancient Ecbatana, still exists, a simple brickwork building,
rectangular in shape, and surrounded by an unpretentious court. It was
restored in 1877, but is again in need of repair. The illustration here
shown is from a photograph sent by Dr. Neligan of Teheran. Though
dead, the great Persian has still a large practice, as his tomb is much
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account