Samoeil said medieval Muslims saw the larger value in protecting the health of women. In addition to these important translations, Muslims introduced new fields of medical research and clinical practice, including gynecology, embryology and a focus on the care of mothers and children. These Arabic translations of Greek scholarship led to later translations into Latin, Samoeil says, paving the way for Greek knowledge to become accessible to the scientists and scholars of the Renaissance. Other artifacts in the exhibit include a medical dictionary and a book containing 31 chapters of practical information about hygiene, sexual intercourse and other topics. “His textbook was used in the West until the mid-17th century,” Samoeil said. There is also a human anatomy book that was translated from Greek into Arabic by the 11th-century scholar and physician Avicenna. The exhibit includes some remarkable examples of these early texts, including an illustrated Persian treatise on human anatomy, with six pages of detailed drawings. ![]() Recognizing their importance, Islamic leaders had works from other languages translated into Arabic, so research and study could continue. In the seventh century, when former empires such as those of the Greeks, Persians and Romans fell under Arab domain, the new Islamic empire inherited many scholarly disciplines, including the developing fields of medicine and pharmacology. The exhibit, said Simon Samoeil, curator of Sterling’s Near East Collection, was designed to “provide positive insight” into the important contributions made by medieval Muslims at a time of high tensions between our nation and areas of the Muslim world. ![]() “Muslims’ Contributions to Medieval Medicine and Pharmacology,” an exhibit of manuscripts from the Medical Historical collection at the Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library, was on display in Sterling Memorial Library’s exhibit corridor until September. When we check into a hospital, take our children to the pediatrician or undergo a surgical procedure, it’s likely we’re benefiting from the work of medieval Muslim doctors and scholars.
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