The Canon of Medicine

Translated for the first time into English here, the Latin was translated in the 12th century and into Hebrew in 1279. Henceforth the Canon served as the chief guide to medical science in the West and is said to have influenced Leonardo da Vinci. Its encyclopedic content, its systematic arrangement and philosophical plan soon worked its way into a position of pre-eminence in the medical literature of Europe, displacing the works of Galen and becoming the textbook for medical education in the schools of Europe. The text was read in the medical schools at Montpellier and Leuven as late as 1650. Experimental medicine the Canon of Medicine was the first book dealing with evidence-based medicine, experimental medicine, clinical trials, randomized controlled trials, efficacy tests, risk factor analysis, and the In phytotherapy, the Canon introduced the medicinal use of Taxus baccata L. He used it as a cardiac remedy. This was the first known use of a calcium channel blocker drug.… (more)