Al-Razi (Rhazes), and Independent Medical Thinker Who Gave the First Description of Measles and Smallpox and Distinguished between Them

摘要

Among the greatest physicians of Medieval Centuries was undoubtedly al- Razi (Rhazes) who wrote more than 200 books and treatises on a variety of subjects. In his famous “De variolis et morbillis” (A Treatise on the Smallpox and Measles), he gave the first accurate descriptions of smallpox and measles and distinguished between them. Al-Razi’s al-Hawi (Liber Continens) sumarized the medical and surgical knowledge of his time. His fame rested on clear–cut clinical description of illness, original observations, and a pragmatic approach to treatment. He was exceedingly generous in treating the poor, and never ceased to stress that a good physician must love and help his patient. Chaucer wrote in his prologue to the “Canterbury Tales” naming the great physicians of the past that his audience could be expected to recognize them. In the list al-Razi was one of the nine international physicians.