entury institution
with hospital units.

(16) "I have founded this institution for my equals and for those
beneath me, it is intended for rulers and subjects, for soldiers and for
the emir, for great and small, freemen and slaves, men and women."
"He ordered medicaments, physicians and everything else that could
be required by anyone in any form of sickness; placed male and female
attendants at the disposal of the patients, determined their pay,
provided beds for patients and supplied them with every kind of covering
that could be required in any complaint. Every class of patient was
accorded separate accommodation: the four halls of the hospital were
set apart for those with fever and similar complaints; one part of the
building was reserved for eye-patients, one for the wounded, one for
those suffering from diarrhoea, one for women; a room for convalescents
was divided into two parts, one for men and one for women. Water was
laid on to all these departments. One room was set apart for cooking
food, preparing medicine and cooking syrups, another for the compounding
of confections, balsams, eye-salves, etc. The head-physician had an
apartment to himself wherein he delivered medical lectures. The number
of patients was unlimited, every sick or poor person who came found
admittance, nor was the duration of his stay restricted, and even those
who were sick at home were supplied with every necessity."--Makrizi.

"In later times this hospital was much extended and improved. The
nursing was admirable and no stint was made of drugs and appliances;
each patient was provided with means upon leaving so that he should
not require immediately to undertake heavy work." Neuburger: History of
Medicine, Vol. 1, p. 378.

It was in the domain of chemistry that the Arabs made the greatest
advances. You may remember that, in Egypt, chemistry had already made
considerable strides, and I alluded to Prof. Elliot Smith's view that
one of the great leaps in civilization was the discovery in the Nile
Valley of the metallurgy of copper. In the brilliant period of the
Ptolemies, both chemistry and pharmacology were studied, and it seems
not improbable that, when the Arabs took Alexandria in the year 640,
there were still many workers in these subjects.

The most famous of those early Arabic writers is the somewhat mythical
Geber, who lived in the first half of the eighth century, and whose
writings had an extraordinary influence throughout t