view of medicine taken by the Arabs undoubtedly assisted as much
as any one single factor in upbuilding the science, just as the
narrow and superstitious view taken by Western nations helped to
destroy it.

The education of the Arabians made it natural for them to
associate medicine with the natural sciences, rather than with
religion. An Arabian savant was supposed to be equally well
educated in philosophy, jurisprudence, theology, mathematics, and
medicine, and to practise law, theology, and medicine with equal
skill upon occasion. It is easy to understand, therefore, why
these religious fanatics were willing to employ unbelieving
physicians, and their physicians themselves to turn to the
scientific works of Hippocrates and Galen for medical
instruction, rather than to religious works. Even Mohammed
himself professed some knowledge of medicine, and often relied
upon this knowledge in treating ailments rather than upon prayers
or incantations. He is said, for example, to have recommended and
applied the cautery in the case of a friend who, when suffering
from angina, had sought his aid.

The list of eminent Arabian physicians is too long to be given
here, but some of them are of such importance in their influence
upon later medicine that they cannot be entirely ignored. One of
the first of these was Honain ben Isaac (809-873 A.D.), a
Christian Arab of Bagdad. He made translations of the works of
Hippocrates, and practised the art along the lines indicated by
his teachings and those of Galen. He is considered the greatest
translator of the ninth century and one of the greatest
philosophers of that period.