Editing Abu Bakr al-Razi (section)

===Books and articles on medicine===
====''[[Al-Hawi]]''====
{{langx|ar|الحاوي|al-Hāwi|The Comprehensive [Book on Medicine]}}
This 23-volume medical textbook sets the foundation of [[gynecology]], [[obstetrics]], [[oncology]] and [[chemotherapy]], and [[ophthalmic surgery]].<ref name="Claude Philips" /> It also contains considerations and criticism on [[Aristotle]] and [[Plato]] and expresses innovative views on many subjects.<ref>{{Cite web
| last = Rāzī
| first = Abū Bakr Muḥammad ibn Zakarīyā
| title = The Comprehensive Book on Medicine – كتاب الحاوى فى الطب
| work = World Digital Library
| access-date = 2 March 2014
| url = http://www.wdl.org/en/item/7458
}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web
| title = The Comprehensive Book on Medicine – كتاب الحاوي
| work = World Digital Library
| language = ar
| access-date = 2 March 2014
| orig-year = Around 1674 CE
| url = http://www.wdl.org/en/item/9715
| year = 1674
}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web
| last = Rāzī
| first = Abū Bakr Muḥammad ibn Zakarīyā
| title = The Comprehensive Book on Medicine—Continens Rasis
| work = World Digital Library
| language = la
| access-date = 2 March 2014
| year = 1529
| url = http://www.wdl.org/en/item/9553
}}</ref> Because of this book alone, many scholars consider al-Razi the greatest medical doctor of the [[Middle Ages]].

''Al-Hawi'' is not a formal medical encyclopedia but a posthumous compilation of al-Razi's working notebooks, which included knowledge gathered from other books as well as original observations on diseases and therapies based on his own clinical experience. It is significant since it contains a monograph on smallpox, one of the earliest known. It was translated into Latin in 1279 by [[Faraj ben Salim]], a physician of Sicilian-Jewish origin employed by [[Charles I of Anjou|Charles of Anjou]], and after which it had a considerable influence in Europe.

''Al-Hawi'' also criticized the views of [[Galen]] after al-Razi had observed many clinical cases that did not follow Galen's descriptions of fevers. For example, he stated that Galen's descriptions of [[urinary]] [[ailment]]s were inaccurate as he had only seen three cases, while al-Razi had studied hundreds of such cases in [[Bimaristan|hospitals]] of [[Baghdad]] and Rey.<ref>[[Emilie Savage-Smith]] (1996), "Medicine", in Roshdi Rashed, ed., ''[[Encyclopedia of the History of Arabic Science]]'', Vol. 3, pp. 903–962 [917]. [[Routledge]], London and New York.</ref>

====''For One Who Has No Physician to Attend Him'' (''Man la Yahduruhu Al-Tabib'') (''من لا يحضره الطبيب'')====

Al-Razi was possibly the first Persian doctor to deliberately write a home medical manual ([[Home remedy|remedial]]) directed at the general public. He dedicated it to the poor, the traveller, and the ordinary citizen who could consult it to treat common ailments when a doctor was unavailable. This book is of special interest to the history of pharmacy since similar books were very popular until the 20th century. Al-Razi described in its 36 chapters diets and drug components that can be found in either an apothecary, a marketplace, in well-equipped kitchens, or military camps. Thus, every intelligent person could follow its instructions and prepare the proper recipes with good results.

Some of the illnesses treated were headaches, colds, coughing, melancholy and diseases of the eye, ear, and stomach. For example, he prescribed for a feverish headache: "2 parts of ''duhn'' (oily extract) of [[rose]], to be mixed with 1 part of vinegar, in which a piece of [[linen]] cloth is dipped and compressed on the forehead". He recommended as a [[laxative]], "7 [[Dram (unit)|drams]] of dried [[violet (plant)|violet]] flowers with 20 pears, [[Maceration (food)|macerated]] and well mixed, then strained. Add to this [[filtrate]] 20 drams of sugar for a drink." In cases of melancholy, he invariably recommended prescriptions, which included either [[poppy|poppies]] or its juice ([[opium]]), ''[[Cuscuta epithymum]]'' (clover dodder) or both. For an eye-remedy, he advised [[myrrh]], [[saffron]], and [[frankincense]], 2 drams each, to be mixed with 1 dram of [[yellow arsenic]] formed into [[Tablet (pharmacy)|tablets]]. Each tablet was to be dissolved in sufficient [[coriander]] water and used as eye drops.

[[File:Colofón-Libro de Medicina de Razi.jpg|thumb|upright=1.5|Colophon of al-Razi's ''Book of Medicine for Mansur'']]<!-- Commented out but usefull image: [[File:Petrus Rusticus, Memoriale medicorum Wellcome L0023854.jpg|thumb|upright=1|Woodcut depicting al-Razi and [[Avicenna]] (by Pietro Antonio Rustico, fl. 1486–1522)]]-->
;''Book for al-Mansur ({{lang|ar|Kitāb al-Manṣūrī}})''
Al-Razi dedicated this work to his patron [[Abu Salih Mansur|Abū Ṣāliḥ al-Manṣūr]], the [[Samanid]] governor of Ray.<ref>{{harvnb|Adamson|2021b|p=17}}.</ref> It was translated into Latin by [[Gerard of Cremona]] around 1180.<ref>{{cite web |title=Rāzī, Liber Almansoris (Cambridge, University Library, MS Add. 9213) |url=https://cudl.lib.cam.ac.uk/view/MS-ADD-09213/1 |website=Cambridge Digital Library |access-date=22 November 2023}}</ref> A Latin translation of it was edited in the 16th century by the Dutch anatomist and physician [[Andreas Vesalius]].<ref name="auto"/>

====''Doubts about Galen'' ({{transliteration|ar|al-Shukūk ʿalā Jalīnūs}})====

In his book ''Doubts about Galen'',<ref>Edited and translated into French by {{harvnb|Koetschet|2019}}. An older edition is {{harvnb|Mohaghegh|1993}}.</ref> al-Razi rejects several claims made by the Greek physician, as far as the alleged superiority of the [[Greek language]] and many of his [[cosmology|cosmological]] and medical views. He links medicine with philosophy, and states that sound practice demands independent thinking. He reports that Galen's descriptions do not agree with his own clinical observations regarding the run of a fever. And in some cases he finds that his clinical experience exceeds Galen's.

He criticized Galen's theory that the body possessed four separate "[[Humorism|humors]]" whose balance is the key to health and a natural body temperature. A sure way to upset such a system was to insert a liquid with a different temperature into the body, resulting in an increase or decrease of bodily heat, which resembled the temperature of that particular fluid. Al-Razi noted that a warm drink would heat the body much higher than its natural temperature. Thus, the drink would trigger a response from the body rather than transferring only its warmth or coldness to it. (''Cf.'' I. E. Goodman)

This line of criticism could completely refute Galen's theory of humors and Aristotle's theory of the [[classical elements]] on which it was grounded. Al-Razi's alchemical experiments suggested other qualities of matter, such as "oiliness" and "sulphurousness", or [[inflammability]] and [[salinity]], which were not readily explained by the traditional fire, water, earth, and air division of elements.

Al-Razi's challenge to the current fundamentals of medical theory was quite controversial. Many accused him of ignorance and arrogance, even though he repeatedly expressed his praise and gratitude to Galen for his contributions and labours, saying:

{{blockquote|I prayed to God to direct and lead me to the truth in writing this book. It grieves me to oppose and criticize the man [[Galen]] from whose sea of knowledge I have drawn much. Indeed, he is the Master and I am the disciple. Although this reverence and appreciation will and should not prevent me from doubting, as I did, what is erroneous in his theories. I imagine and feel deeply in my heart that Galen has chosen me to undertake this task, and if he were alive, he would have congratulated me on what I am doing. I say this because Galen's aim was to seek and find the truth and bring light out of darkness. I wish indeed he were alive to read what I have published.<ref>Bashar Saad, Omar Said, ''Greco-Arab and Islamic Herbal Medicine: Traditional System, Ethics, Safety, Efficacy, and Regulatory Issues'', John Wiley & Sons, 2011. {{ISBN|9781118002261}}, [https://books.google.com/books?id=-WQVF8nhKf4C&pg=PT33 page]</ref>}}

====''The Diseases of Children''====
Al-Razi's ''The Diseases of Children'' was the first monograph to deal with [[pediatrics]] as an independent field of medicine.<ref name="Tschanz2"/><ref name="Elgood2"/>