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Ar-Razi: Father of Pediatrics
By David W. Tschanz
Abu Bakr Mohammed ibn Zakariya ar-Razi (born in Rayy, Iran - c. 841-926) gave no early indication that he would someday be considered the greatest of all Arab physicians. His youth was spent pursuing music, mathematics and alchemy. As an alchemist, he was noted as a pioneer in the use of mercurial ointments in the treatment of disease. Then, at the age of forty, he turned his attention to medicine. Ar-Razi (later known in the West by the Latinized version of his name, “Rhazes”) went to the great teaching hospitals of Baghdad, the Abassid capital, for his training. Completing his studies, he returned to Rayy and assumed directorship of its hospital. His reputation grew rapidly and within a few years he was selected to be the director of a new hospital in Baghdad. Ar-Razi is regarded as Islamic medicine’s greatest clinician and its most original thinker. A prolific writer, he turned out some 237 books, about half of which deal with medicine. His treatise, “The Diseases of Children,” has led some historians to regard him as the “Father of Pediatrics”. Ar-Razi was the first to identify hay fever and its cause. His work on kidney stones is still considered a classic. In addition, he was instrumental in the introduction of mercurial ointments to medical practice. Following his term as hospital director in Baghdad, he returned to Rayy where he taught the healing arts in the local hospital, and continued to write. His first major work was a ten-part treatise entitled “Al Kittab al Mansuri.” In it, he discussed such varied subjects as general medical theories and definitions, diet and drugs. Ar-Razi also prepared “Al-Judari wal Hasbah,” the first treatise ever written on smallpox and measles.
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