Contribution of Rhazes and Avicenna to the historical development of neuroscience

Actually, Rhazes and Avicenna are of the most prominent medical scientists of the Islamic golden age. In the footsteps of previous scholars, such as Hippocrates and Galen, Rhazes published the collective information about medical practice he could gather and supplemented it with his own findings and experiences. In total, he wrote over 200 books and treatises on a variety of subjects. On the other hand, Avicenna wrote more than 450 treatises on medicine, philosophy, logic, and astronomy; many of these manuscripts were created in prison. His Canon of Medicine became a main reference work for medicine in the Western countries until the 16 th century. The first book of Rhazes medical encyclopedia, Liber Continens, dealt with neurological disorders such as paralysis and hemiplegia, tremor or trembling, epilepsy or seizure, injuries of the brain and spine, stroke, headaches, vertigo, fainting and stupor, asthenia, sciatic nerve disorder and other peripheral nerve injuries. Among the specific conditions in the field of neurology and neuropsychiatry, Avicenna mentions epilepsy in children and adults (omo-al-sabian  and sare’), apoplexy and stroke (sakteh), paralysis (falej),vertigo (davar), spasm (tashanoj), wry mouth (laghve), tremor (ra’she), meningitis (lisarghos, gharanits, sarsaam), amnesia and dementia (nosyan and fesad-al-zekr), head injuries and traumas (shekastegi-e-sar), hysteria and conversion disorder (ekhtenagh-e-rahem), fainting and stupor (ghash), nervous tic (ekhtelaj), sexual disorders (jemae), love sickness (eshgh), delusion and hallucination (vahm), insomnia (sahr), sopor (sobat), nightmare (kabus or bakhtak), mania and psychosis (mania and dae’-al-kalb or Jonoun), melancholia (malikhulia), paranoia (ghotrab), asthenia (kheder), hydrocephalus (mae’-fi-al-ra’s) and sciatica (ergh-al-nesa). Many later scholars applied the scientific method of Rhazes and Avicenna in their work. However, many of their works and observations need to be translated to compare with modern medical knowledge. But their legacy can serve as inspiration for modern colleagues in the field of neuroscience. These scholars created major advancements, so that modern neurology is indebted to their works and experiences.