Herbal medicine, as an important part of traditional medicine, has been developed byfamous scholars. “De Materia Medica” the valuable work of Dioscorides (1st CE) wastranslated into Arabic by Stephan Basil under the title of Hayula al-Teb. This work wasfurther elaborated by several Moslem scholars and finally made available to the public inthe 3rd Century CE. Indigenous pharmaceutical sciences were pioneered by Ebn al-Beitarthe outstanding Muslim botanist and is the author of “Jame le Mofradat”. Other scholarswho have contributed chapters to, or authored separate treatises on materia medica orpharmaceutical sciences were; Tabari (Ferdous al-Hekmat), Rhazes (Al-Hawi and Al-Mansouri), Heravi (Al-Abnieh), Avicenna (Al-Qanoon), Biruni (Al-Saidane), Jorjani(Zakhire), Shapor Sahl (an erudite from the School of Jondishapour and author ofGharabadin: the oldest Pharmacopoeia), Haji Zain al-Attar (Ekhtiarat-e-Badii), HakimMomen (Tohfe) and Aghili Khorasani (Makhzan al-Advie).

It is well over half a century since a systematic approach has been launched to the study of history of medicine through the pioneering endeavors of distinguished scholars such as the late Dr Nadjmabadi and others. Fortunately, we have been witnessing the emergence of numerous studies which are based on scientifically conducted methodology, over the past decades. A rational and institutionalized approach, however, has been outstanding until the Iranian Academy of Medical Sciences decided to incorporate the articles on the Iranian History of Medicine in its newly published “Quarterly Journal of Traditional Medicine.” This study investigates the ways deemed appropriate for future development of this field in the region as well as the challenges faced by students engaged in defining the problems to be tackled.

“Al-Hawi” (The Continents) written by the famous Persian polymath scientist Rhazes, hasbeen carefully studied in order to enlighten the contribution Iran has played in thedevelopment of medical science. Two hundred and eighty six sources including referencesto 112 scholars were investigated. From this list, a total of 20 books and references to 38scholars have been recorded with mistaken identity in the literature. In this paper,biographical data of these scientists have been scrutinized with the anticipation to provide a reliable guide for further studies.

Abu Bakr Mohammad Ibn Zakaria Razi, known in the western literature as Rhazes, wasborn in 865 CE in Reyy, a township south of modern Tehran. In his youth, he pursued thecraft of goldsmith and was lead gradually to the art of Alchemy. He excelled in this art such that his genial contributions and historic discoveries helped convert the superstitionshrouded alchemy into the experiment-based rational chemistry. Rhazes is also credited for a scientific classification of minerals, purification of oils and the first description of chemical reduction. Rhazes was the first to produce colored glass and synthesis of paints.

Personal and social hygiene has been a matter of utmost importance in the Iraniantraditional medicine and even prioritized to the art of treatment of illnesses. Based on sixessential hygienic tenets, regulations were promulgated with the intent of safeguarding the health of individual and society. These six principles comprise the environmentalconditions, nutrition, balanced physical exercise, adequate rest, regular elimination of bodily waste and mental balance are discussed in detail in this article.

In this work, Human Anatomy (Tashrih-e-Mansuri) by Mansur ibn Mohammad Ibn Ahmad Shirazi is introduced and its 21 points are compared to the modern anatomy. Mansuri expounds on functional differentiation between arteries and veins based on their grossly visible constituent fiber (li:f) structure. The author describes the anatomic difference in pulmonary artery as the artery with only one layer which makes it appropriate for the exchange of gentle breeze (oxygenation) and elimination of smoke (CO2). While describing the accurate anatomic course of the vessel, mistake is incurred as to its origin probably instigated by the leftward course, similar to the aorta. The author gives a relatively accurate description of the coronary arteries as well as the proximal branches of the aorta namely the subclavian and carotid arteries are well described and it site of entrance to the brain is well described in distinction to the vertebral arteries traversing processes of the cervical vertebrae. The major branches of the descending aorta including the origin of renal arteries as well as the more distal iliac and femoral bifurcations are also described.

The use of herbal drugs as we know them today, began from early times in Iran. Thiscountry is blessed with the abundance of as many as 8,000 kinds of botanical species, alarge number of which are valued for their healing effects. In these days, people are tending to accept a natural life style as part of their heritage and some companies have developed an industry based on natural remedies. Increasing in herbal plant production and overseas sales is for some important reasons such as increasing high quality products, scientific validation for products in the market place, entering the mainstream companies in the market place and encouragement of physicians in recommending herbal medicines. Iran is a country with a rich plant flora but there is a specific shortage in usage and export of medicinal plants, amounting less than 0.5 percent of the global trade. This article will focus on the comparison of export and consumption of herbal medicine in the world and in Iran and theway of increasing them.

Physicians have been familiar with leishmaniosis for thousands of years. This disease couldpresent in several different forms, one of which is cutaneous leishmaniosis. This type hasbeen named as Rish-e-Balkhi (Balkh Wound) in Iranian traditional medicine texts. In thispaper the description of the disease, its diagnostic methods and various treatment modalities are investigated in the light of relevant traditional medical texts.

One can study the Islamic medicine within two stages: establishment; compiling andinnovation. In the establishment stage the Islamic medicine was created on the basis ofGreek rules especially Galenic medicine, but it was not limited to the Greek Galenicmodels. In this stage it freed itself from the fame of Galen through expansion of dialoguesand scientific discussions and adding new elements to the science of medicine; writing onthe subjects not dealt with by Galen; criticizing Galen and using non-Greek models such asIndian ones. The compiling and innovation stage continued for at least five centuries (earlyfourth century (H) to the middle of the ninth century/centuries 10-15); and it can beconsidered as the Islamic medicine era in the general history of medicine. In this stage themost important differences in the field of general principles were: separation of medicineand philosophy; dominance of the medicine’s scientific section in comparison with itstheoretical one; surpassing mere logical reasoning by experience and experiment; and thepriority of scientific clinical observations to analogical theories. Therefore, Islamicmedicine separated from philosophy and only dealt with medical subjects and physiciansstarted to expand medical branches and specializing them via writing and practicing.Moreover, it enabled them to correct predecessors’ mistakes and add many new subjects.

Mentha (Mint) is a genus of flowering plants in the Labiatae (Lamiaceae) family. Mints arearomatic, almost exclusively perennial, and rarely annual. Mint and its medicinal uses havebeen cited in many traditional manuscripts and since Mentha species have different medicalproperties and recognition of these species considering the characteristics mentioned intraditional manuscripts is difficult, we decided to elaborate the corresponding names intraditional medicine and characteristics of 4 native and one hybrid common species ofMentha in Iran including M. spicata, M. longifolia, M. pulegium, M. aquatica and M. ×piperita. The results of this work help the traditional medicine researchers to recognize themedicinal properties specified in traditional manuscripts for each Mentha species.