Journal of Research on History of Medicine
Volume:2 Issue: 1, Feb 2013

To know every phenomenon the first step is to know its root. Hygiene and Medicine have noble origin from the beginning of the recorded human history; in fact, they have been the milestone of human society. Medical history will help us to know this background and roots and Achaemenid period as a brilliant age of Iranian heritage is meritorious to be studied. The present study is an attempt to find instances of hygienic and Medical aspects of Persian life style during this period of as recorded by Greek historians. The main purpose of this study is to answer the following questions: was there a Medical Tradition, which could be named as Persian Medical Tradition, during Achaemenid era? if yes, the next important question is: How much importance and influence it has had on the contemporary and oncoming Medical Traditions?

Avicenna (980 – 1037 AD) known as the prince of physicians in the west was one of the most prominent Persian thinkers، philosophers، and physicians. Owing to his interests in cardiology، he authored considerable works on different aspects of cardiology. “Resaley-e-Ragshenasi” (Book on Pulsology) and”Kitab al-Adviyt- ol-Qalbiye” (the book on drugs for cardiovascular diseases) are Avicenna’s great dedication to the field of cardiology. In the field of drug therapy، an important concept which Avicenna touched on was the approach of drug achievement to the site of action in an easier and more efficient way. The mentioned concept is now recognized as “drug targeting” in current medicinal sciences and is an important challenge and field of research in pharmacy. Drug targeting has its starting point just a few decades ago. whereas Avicenna considered the strategy 1000 year ago.

Dry cupping is one of the main procedures in many traditional medicine systems all around the world with its root in antiquity. Traditional method of dry cupping is depended on practitioner proficiency and can lead to skin burn if the practitioner is a beginner. On the other hand, Zahrawi (11th century AD), the Muslim physician from Andulus (current Spain) presented two novel forms of cup for cupping to improve and correct cupping problems. In this regards, based on the model described in Al-Tasreef, we tried to redesign and manufacture the tools. These tools were made from galvanized iron owing to its nonconductivity of heat. Zahrawi models were compared with traditional model (with the same material and size) by negative pressure of mercury as well as qualitative test performed by a traditional practitioner. The results showed the superiority of Zahrawi’s models (9792Pa and 10200Pa) over the traditional model, displaying a better and more stable vacuum pressure (mean: 8704 Pa with variation in repeat the test). Furthermore, the introduced models are user friendly; i.e., every practitioner, even the beginner without specialized skill, may work with them easily. Therefore, the new model is suggested for dry cupping.

Prevalence of contagious diseases through foreign passengers and crews is one the serious problems in big ports. In the late Qajar period, Bushehr port became an important port because of military, political and economical reasons. In this time, some diseases such as plague and cholera prevailed in some Iran’s neighbor countries like India and Iraq and spread in Bushehr by passengers and crews. Iran’s government had not any attention to this object. But finally, agreed with organizing a quarantine office by England in Bushehr. This office had some physicians and military forces. During 10 years, this quarantine office had many problems such as offense to the quarantine rules by passengers and crews, sabotage of other European governments and incorrect decisions of Iranian government. Because supervision of this office was with Britain; most of remained documents about this can be reached from the reports of British political agents, embassy staffs, brokers and head of the console. The aim of this study is consideration on the condition of quarantine office in Bushehr between 1905 and 1915 based on Baliuz of Britain in Bushehr. Although these documents are full of wrong political views, but because medicine and quarantine was not a political object; these documents had good validity among other documents.

The research office for the history of Persian medicine will pay grant to the top researchers in the field of medical history. This award is named after Abumaher Shirazi، the father of Shiraz medical doctrine in 10th Century AD. This award will be paid annually. The ceremony of the first series of this award (2011-2012) will be held on 28 Feb، 2013. Following the announcement، winners will be selected from among eligible applicants.