Among the Arabian physicians of the eleventh century Avicenna is certainly one who should be placed in the first rank. He was born in 980 A. D. at Afschena, a village in the Province of Khorassan, Persia, and spent his youth in Bokhara, where his father held some high office under the Government. His great intellectual capacity was revealed at an early age. It is said, for example, that already before he was ten years old he had committed the entire Koran to memory; and it is added, further, that when he was only seventeen years old he had already acquired such knowledge of medicine that he was invited to take part in a consultation regarding some malady with which the Emir Nuch ben Mansur was affected. The advice which he gave on this occasion was followed, and in the sequel it proved so good that he was granted, as a reward, unrestricted access to the royal library,--a privilege which he utilized to the very best advantage. When his father died Avicenna came into possession of a large fortune, which enabled him to indulge in a great deal of traveling. In this way he visited one Persian Court after another throughout a period of several years. Finally, during a residence at Hamadan, the Prince Schems ed-Daula, whom Avicenna had successfully treated for some malady, made him his Vizir. While he held this office he managed, without neglecting his official duties, to continue his scientific studies; but he was not able entirely to keep out of political intrigues, and as a consequence his life was for a short time in some danger. He was confined for several months in a fortress, from which, however, he managed eventually to make his escape to the Court of Ibn Kakujah, in Ispahan. He resided in that city during the following fourteen years, and it was there that he wrote his two principal works--the famous medical treatise known as the “Canon,” and the equally celebrated cyclopaedic work on philosophy. Worn out by his incessant and most exhausting literary labors and by his excesses in other directions, Avicenna died in June, 1037 A. D., while he was accompanying the Emir on his expedition to Hamadan. His tomb may still be seen in the latter city.