Editing History of medicine (section)

==== India ====
[[Unani medicine]], based on [[Avicenna]]'s ''[[The Canon of Medicine|Canon of Medicine]]'' (ca. 1025), was developed in India throughout the medieval and Early Modern periods. Its use continued, especially in Muslim communities, during the Indian Sultanate and [[Mughal Empire|Mughal]] periods. Unani medicine is in some respects close to Ayurveda and to Early Modern European medicine. All share a theory of the presence of the elements (in Unani, as in Europe, they are considered to be fire, water, earth, and air) and humors in the human body. According to Unani physicians, these elements are present in different humoral fluids and their balance leads to health and their imbalance leads to illness.<ref>{{cite journal |vauthors=Rahman HS |date=1996 |title=Arab Medicine During the Ages. |journal=Studies in History of Medicine and Science |location=New Delhi |publisher=IHMMR |volume=m 14 |issue=1–2 |pages=1–39}}</ref>

Sanskrit medical literature of the Early Modern period included innovative works such as the ''Compendium of Śārṅgadhara'' (Skt. ''Śārṅgadharasaṃhitā'', ca. 1350) and especially ''The Illumination of Bhāva'' (''Bhāvaprakāśa,'' by ''[[Bhavamishra|Bhāvamiśra]],'' ca. 1550). The latter work also contained an extensive dictionary of materia medica, and became a standard textbook used widely by ayurvedic practitioners in north India up to the present day (2024). Medical innovations of this period included pulse diagnosis, urine diagnosis, the use of mercury and [[Smilax china|china root]] to treat syphilis, and the increasing use of metallic ingredients in drugs.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Meulenbeld |first=Gerrit Jan |title=A history of Indian medical literature |date=1999 |publisher=E. Forsten |isbn=978-90-6980-124-7 |series=Groningen oriental studies |volume=IIA |location=Groningen |publication-date=1999–2002 |pages=115–375 |chapter=}}</ref>

By the 18th century CE, Ayurvedic medical therapy was still widely used among most of the population. Muslim rulers built large hospitals in 1595 in [[Hyderabad, India|Hyderabad]], and in [[History of Delhi|Delhi]] in 1719, and numerous commentaries on ancient texts were written.<ref name="Deepak Kumar 2003 pp 680-3">{{cite book |title=The Cambridge History of Science |vauthors=Kumar D |date=2003 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-57243-9 |veditors=Porter R, Ross D |volume=4: 18th-century Science |location=Cambridge |pages=680–683 |chapter=India}}</ref>
<gallery widths="190" heights="200">
File:Physician taking pulse.jpg|Physician taking pulse in Delhi c. 1826
File:Darul Shifa.jpg|[[Dar-ul-Shifa]], [[Hyderabad]] built in 1591
</gallery>