Journal of Research on History of Medicine
Volume:5 Issue: 2, May 2016

Although ancient Greek physicians studied a great number of ocular diseases in their medical texts such as glaucoma, cataract, trachoma, chalazion, trichiasis, entropion, ectropion and pterygion, in ancient Greek art there were only few examples which represent ophthalmic diseases. These examples are found especially in portraits, and the ophthalmological disease is an important feature of the portrait of a depicted person. A majority of these portraits date back to Hellenistic times except for few examples dated in prehistoric years. Although votive limbs in the form of eyes were a common dedication in the shrines of ancient healing gods as the shrines of Asklepios and Amphiaraos, one could expect the presentations of ocular diseases; all these had no pathological sings. Nevertheless, these representations of ocular diseases should be distinguished from the monstrous figures of ancient Greek mythology which remind of ophthalmological pathologies such as the Cyclops who had one eye and Argos Panoptis with more than two, because these are fantastic figures of mythology far from reality.

The information about herbs’ medicinal properties is ample in traditional manuscripts, some of which are of value even in modern medicine. However, it is not usually easy to put it into practice. Identifying traditional herbs and determining their scientific names are very challenging, calling for many ethnopharmacological studies. One significant herb in traditional medicine is stoechas. Its medical properties are found in traditional manuscripts, but the true origin of the herb is not yet known. This study followed the origin of stoechas through history, from ancient Rome to the conquered lands of Islam in Spain, from North Africa to India, to find its trace in various civilizations, including their traditional medicines. The results showed that the stoechas mentioned in Dioscorides and Pliny’s books was referred to as Lavandula stoechas. This herb was prescribed in Persia for centuries as an imported drug, and the Arabicized/Persianized name, osṭoḵūdūs, was used for it. Several herbs have been used as stoechas due to a variety of reasons: mistranslation, miscategorization, and substitution/adulteration; the herbs were Woodfordia fruticosa (India, 11th cent.), Rosmarinus officialis (North Africa, 13th cent. Northern Iran, 17th cent.). Around 100 years ago, L. stoechas was substituted by L. dentata and around 50 years ago, it was substituted by Nepeta menthoides in herbal markets of Iran. All of these herbs were sold as stoechas because of its similar medicinal effects as well as its similar appearance. Some information about its effects is documented in various manuscripts; yet few proper studies have conducted to test them.

The structure of the materials inside a medical bag needs to be arranged in such a manner, that the treating physician to be able, even blindfolded, to quite his way through, in order to easy grasp every instrument and tool. This was an axiom firstly recorded by Hippocrates in ancient Greece. On the other hand, Egyptians and Palestinians used medical kids at about the same era, followed in later centuries by Muslim physicians. The historical debate of who was the innovator to manufacture such a box, or bag, still remains open for discussion. Our study tries to follow the origins of the physician’s medical bag in antiquity.

Research is considered axis of each progressing and scientific development. Scattered studies without any logical plan won’t lead to the desired results. Research prioritization in Traditional Persian Medicine (TPM) is more necessary because of limited resources and manpower.This study was conducted in four phases with Delphi’s pattern of study. At the first stage, it was consulted from TIM departments at universities in Iran about research priorities. Conclusion of these priorities due to scoring to them was sent for 160 experts and assistants of traditional medicine, in two phases. For the last step, results of previous steps and conclusion of two phases of scoring were reviewed by the outstanding masters of TIM. The result was categorized, concluded and then presented in table form.81 topics were determined as research priorities after the conclusion of all comments. These topics are categorized in 4 areas. 3 topics in the area of “Hefz-al-Sehhah” (Maintaining the health), 12 subject in the area of “effective factors on sustainable development of Traditional Medicine”, 3 topics in “Basics of TIM “ and 65 subjects in the field of “diseases”.It is proposed that the arrangement of research priorities be considered in “Hefz-al-Sehhah”, “effective factors on sustainable development of Traditional Medicine”, “Basics of TIM” and “diseases” consequently. We recommend that research groups in the proposed areas to be formed, designing a research strategy for each area by sequential studies to achieve definite goals. It is suggested that research policy-making entities in the field of TIM and also related scientific associations, use these research priorities as the basis for moral and financial support.

The Second World War brought many calamities on Iran, one of which was the spread of contagious diseases. The climax of the epidemic diseases was between the years 1320 (1941) and 1322 (1943). The disease spread mostly in Tehran, the capital of Iran. The fatality rate, however, was not as high as other cities. This was due to the availability of more medical facilities in the capital. The people of Shiraz were also inflicted with typhoid and typhus, the former causing the most fatalities, though. The greatest death toll from typhoid was in the year 1322 (1943) in Shiraz. This paper studied a medical document dated 1321 (1942) reporting on the spread of the two diseases. The document belongs to the Fars province high commissioner of medical hygiene. The report gives an account of water distribution centers, calling for some preventive measures. The outbreak of typhoid in the city shows that the governmental authorities have neglected the warnings given in the report, resulting in the death of numerous people.