Another great Arabian physician, whose work was just beginning as
Honain's was drawing to a close, was Rhazes (850-923 A.D.), who
during his life was no less noted as a philosopher and musician
than as a physician. He continued the work of Honain, and
advanced therapeutics by introducing more extensive use of
chemical remedies, such as mercurial ointments, sulphuric acid,
and aqua vitae. He is also credited with being the first
physician to describe small-pox and measles accurately.

While Rhazes was still alive another Arabian, Haly Abbas (died
about 994), was writing his famous encyclopaedia of medicine,
called The Royal Book. But the names of all these great
physicians have been considerably obscured by the reputation of
Avicenna (980-1037), the Arabian "Prince of Physicians," the
greatest name in Arabic medicine, and one of the most remarkable
men in history. Leclerc says that "he was perhaps never surpassed
by any man in brilliancy of intellect and indefatigable
activity." His career was a most varied one. He was at all times
a boisterous reveller, but whether flaunting gayly among the
guests of an emir or biding in some obscure apothecary cellar,
his work of philosophical writing was carried on steadily. When a
friendly emir was in power, he taught and wrote and caroused at
court; but between times, when some unfriendly ruler was supreme,
he was hiding away obscurely, still pouring out his great mass of
manuscripts. In this way his entire life was spent.

By his extensive writings he revived and kept alive the best of
the teachings of the Greek physicians, adding to them such
observations as he had made in anatomy, physiology, and materia