having published
the first illustrated work on surgery, this book being remarkable in
still another way, in that it was also the first book, since classical
times, written from the practical experience of the physician, and not a
mere compilation of ancient authors. A century after Albucasis came the
great physician Avenzoar (1113-1196), with whom he divides about
equally the medical honors of the western caliphate. Among Avenzoar's
discoveries was that of the cause of "itch"--a little parasite, "so
small that he is hardly visible." The discovery of the cause of this
common disease seems of minor importance now, but it is of interest
in medical history because, had Avenzoar's discovery been remembered a
hundred years ago, "itch struck in" could hardly have been considered
the cause of three-fourths of all diseases, as it was by the famous
Hahnemann.

The illustrious pupil of Avenzoar, Averrhoes, who died in 1198 A.D., was
the last of the great Arabian physicians who, by rational conception
of medicine, attempted to stem the flood of superstition that was
overwhelming medicine. For a time he succeeded; but at last the Moslem
theologians prevailed, and he was degraded and banished to a town
inhabited only by the despised Jews.

ARABIAN HOSPITALS

To early Christians belong the credit of having established the first
charitable institutions for caring for the sick; but their efforts were
soon eclipsed by both Eastern and Western Mohammedans. As early as
the eighth century the Arabs had begun building hospitals, but the
flourishing time of hospital building seems to have begun early in the
tenth century. Lady Seidel, in 918 A.D., opened a hospital at Bagdad,
endowed with an amount corresponding to about three hundred pounds
sterling a month. Other similar hospitals were erected in the years
immediately following, and in 977 the Emir Adad-adaula established an
enormous institution with a staff of twenty-four medical officers. The
great physician Rhazes is said to have selected the site for one of
these hospitals by hanging pieces of meat in various places about
the city, selecting the site near the place at which putrefaction was
slowest in making its appearance. By the middle of the twelfth century
there were something like sixty medical institutions in Bagdad alone,
and these institutions were free to all patients and supported by
official charity.

The Emir Nureddin, about the year 1160, founded a great hospital at