Editing The Canon of Medicine (section)

==Book 2 Materia Medica==
Book 2 (the Materia Medica) of the ''Canon'' alphabetically lists about 800 "simple" medical substances that were used at the time. The substances are simple in the sense of not being compounded with other substances. The first part gives general rules about drugs and a treatise on what was called "the science of powers of medicines". The second part is a list of 800 simple floral, mineral, and animal substances. Each entry contains the substance's name, its criteria of goodness (which sometimes describes how the substance is found in nature), and its nature or primary qualities. Next are listed one or more of 22 possible general actions, followed by specific properties listed according to a grid of 11 disease types. Finally, potential substitutes for the substances are given.<ref name=Jacquart>{{Cite journal|last=Jacquart |first=Danielle |journal=European Review |volume=16 |issue=2 |pages=219–227 |title=Islamic Pharmacology in the Middle Ages: Theories and Substances |doi=10.1017/S1062798708000215 |year=2008 |url=http://cliojournal.wikispaces.com/file/view/Islamic+Pharmacology+in+the+Middle+Ages.pdf}}</ref>{{rp|223}}

The ''Canon'' contains seven rules for experimenting with new drugs, taken partly from Galen.<ref name="Crombie1971">{{cite book|last=Crombie|first=Alistair Cameron|title=Robert Grosseteste and the origins of experimental science, 1100–1700|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aTwPAQAAMAAJ|year=1971|publisher=Clarendon Press|page=79|isbn=978-0-19-824189-8 }}</ref>

#"The drug must be free from any acquired quality"; for example from being exposed to heat or cold or stored in close proximity to other substances.
#"The experiment must done on a single, not a composite condition"; in other words it should not be tested on a patient who has complex or multiple illnesses.
#"The drug must be tested on two contrary conditions"; a drug may act directly on a disease but also it may be effective against a different disease by relieving its symptoms.
#"The quality of the drug must correspond to the strength of the disease...it is best to experiment first using the weakest [dosage] and then increase it gradually until you know the potency of the drug, leaving no room for doubt."
#"One should consider the time needed for the drug to take effect. If the drug has an immediate effect, this shows that it has acted against the disease itself."
#"The effect of the drug should be the same in all cases or, at least, in most. If that is not the case, the effect is then accidental, because things that occur naturally are always or mostly consistent."
#"Experiments should be carried out on the human body [...] the quality of the medicine might mean that it would affect the human body differently from the animal body..."<ref name=Nasser2009 />