| Bahā' al-Dawlah ibn Sirāj al-Dīn ShāhQāsimibnMu ammad al- usaynī
Nūrbakhshī (d. 1508 AD), also known as Bahā' al-Dawlah Nūrbakhshī
Razi or al-Nūrī, was an influential late medieval Persian physician. He
was born in the village of Tursht, in the vicinity of the city of Raay
(near the present city of Tehran, Iran). According to many historians,
he was the last prominent Persian scholar of the Islamic world since
the 7th century [1,2].
Bahā'al-Dawlah documented the medical treatise known as the
Khulā at al-Tajārib (The Summary of Experience) in about 1501 (Fig. 1).
The book was written in the Persian language and contained 28 babs
(chapters). The first five chapters of the book were mainly concerned
with two aspects of medicine; hygiene and regimen. The sixth chapter
reviewed different types of fever. Chapters seven to twenty-five
described treatments for diseases that originate from various parts of
the body. Toxins, antidotes and explanations on poisonous bites were
discussed thoroughly in chapter twenty-six. The final two chapters of
the book focused on compound remedies and pharmacology [3].
Cardiovascular related topics are the main subject discussed
throughout the 11th chapter of Khulā at al-Tajārib. That section of the
book beginswith a description of the heart and its anatomical structure;
this is followed with enumeration of some cardiovascular diseases such
as pericarditis, vasovagal syncope and stroke (all the disease names
were written in modern terminology) [4]. |