Asia - Body Mind Spirit - Gallery Guide by The Wellcome Trust (2004).pdf - Historia medycyny - morefaya2006

Asia: Body Mind Spirit

Throughout history, the maintenance of health

and the prevention of disease have been of

fundamental human concern. In Asia, the

wellbeing of humanity has always been

interpreted as a balance of body, mind and spirit.

This exhibition explores the theories and

practices that relate to this harmonious

relationship by introducing the great traditions

of Asia which focus on balance in all aspects of

life.

Flyer image

The exhibits are drawn primarily from the Asian

collections in the Wellcome Library of the

History and Understanding of Medicine, one of

the major resources of manuscripts, printed

books and pictorial material relating to Asia.

This collection is largely due to the vision and

enthusiasm of the American-born pharmacist

and philanthropist, Sir Henry Wellcome (1853-

1936), whose remarkable legacy forms the

cornerstone of the exhibition.

Body in balance

The exhibition starts with an introduction to the various medical traditions of the

Islamic, Hindu and Buddhist cultures. All stress the importance of the body being in

balance and treatment is prescribed on that basis. In order to establish the source of

imbalance, complex diagnostic systems are employed.

Common to all these traditions is the principle of vitality, called prana in India, qi in

China, ki in Japan and rLung in Tibet. If this force becomes blocked, help is needed

to restore the physical, mental and spiritual balance of the body. This is partly

achieved by a wide selection of medical treatments and an extensive range of herbal

medicine.

Arabic Medicine

Along with local medical lore, the Arabs placed great importance on

the medical system they inherited from the Greeks. This was based on

a balance of the four humours within the body. Largely due to

Christian translations of medical and scientific texts from Greek into

Syriac and Arabic, Baghdad became a major centre of Islamic science

in the ninth century. However, the Arabs not only inherited and

preserved the Greek corpus of medicine, they further modified and

developed it in the areas of materia medica (medical substances) and

alchemy, the latter derived from the Arabic word al-ki miya referring

to the transmutation of metals.

In addition, many physicians in the Islamic world were outstanding

medical teachers and practitioners. Avicenna (980 –1037 CE) was

born near Bokhara in Central Asia. Known as ‘The Prince of

Physicians’ his Canon of Medicine remained the standard text in both

the East and West until the sixteenth century. Although Arabic was

not the native tongue of these great physicians, they wrote in Arabic,

the language of science and learning in the Islamic world.

The Canon of Medicine

This famous work, entitled al-Qanun fi al-tibb , was composed by ibn Sina (980-

1037), known in the West as Avicenna. An encyclopaedia of medical knowledge,

it still forms the basis of Unani theory and practice today. Divided into five

books, this opening shows the start of the third book depicting diseases of the

brain.

Arabic; dated 1632. Arabic MS 155, folio 218v, 219r. (Image no.L21127) © Wellcome Library,

London

Unani Medicine

Arabic medicine spread east with the advance of Islam. In

India it became known as Unani tibb meaning ‘Ionian’ or

‘Greek’ medicine. It was based on the Greek tradition of

four humours – blood, phlegm, black and yellow bile. Each

humour was qualified by natures and elements, the natures

being hot, cold, wet and dry and the elements being water,

earth, air and fire. According to Hippocrates ( c . 460 – 357

BCE), health depended on the balance of the humours, a

theory later refined by the famous Graeco-Roman physician,

Galen (129 – 199 CE). Knowledge of human anatomy was

based on the result of animal studies, as dissection was

considered contrary to Islamic law. Mansur ibn Muhammad

Ilyas, the fourteenth-century Persian anatomist composed a

treatise on anatomy, in which the illustrations appear to

derive from earlier works of Galen.

Today Unani tibb continues to flourish alongside Ayurveda , in

both India and Pakistan. However, in general this tradition

has remained urban, hospital-based and used predominantly

by Muslims, whereas Ayurveda tends to be more widespread

and favoured by Hindus.

Anatomy Drawing

This drawing, illustrating the nervous system, is from a series based on the Tashrih-I Mansuri of the Persian anatomist Mansur. They

were composed in 1396 and usually include five illustrations showing the skeleton, muscles, nerves, blood vessels and intestines

respectively.

Unani Medicine

Anatomy of a horse

Dissection was contrary to Islamic law, so knowledge of human

anatomy was based on animal studies. This drawing is from a

rare set of drawings, mirroring those of the human body,

showing the anatomy of a horse.

Sanskrit MS Delta 76/877.

Asia - Body Mind Spirit - Gallery Guide by The Wellcome Trust (2004).pdf

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