IBN AL NAFIS
(Abu Al Hassan Ala Addin Ali Ibn Abu Al Hazm)
(1210 - 1288)
The Scholar,
the Manuscript and the Internet!
The manuscript on the
cover page has a story. Back in the early 1970’s in
the medical school, an eminent professor of
physiology arrived to give us “the Circulation”. We
were proudly amazed to see his first slide, which he
displayed for over 10 minutes for everybody to see.
It was in arabic handwriting.
It was the original
manuscript of Ibn Al Nafis accurately describing the
pulmonary circulation. We were proud because of who
is Ibn Al Nafis to us and amazed at his accurate and
original description nearly a thousand years ago,
certainly hundreds of years before William Harvey’s
complementary description.
I asked the Professor
where to find a copy of the manuscript. He directed
me to a text book of Physiology “Folkow and Neil”. I
made a transparency, which made an interesting slide
to close scientific presentations. However, when I
wanted to put this in the last issue of the Qatar
Medical Journal, I could not find it anywhere, I
lost it. I therefore started the agony of finding
the manuscript yet again. The only leading
information was the name of the authors “Folkow and
Neil” but no more details. I contacted libraries on
the Internet, many did not have it, a few had it,
but were not able to send me a photocopy since I did
not know the exact page number.
I thought the Internet could still help; after
all that is what the Internet is there for! I sent
e-mails to some friends and scientists around the
world. Not long after, I received a positive answer.
It was from a friend, Prof. Farouk El Sabban, a
Professor of Phy-siology in the Far East. He
recognized the manuscript and kindly sent us a copy,
which finally settles nicely on the cover page of
the current issue of Qatar Medical Journal, courtesy
of Oxford University Press.
The manuscript is
translated for those who may have a little
difficulty with their Arabic. It clearly gives an
accurate and original description of the
circulation, refuting previous assumptions by Galen
and others. Ibn AlNafis used the term “Arterial
Vein” for the pulmonary artery. This terminology
indicates that Ibn Al Nafis realized not only the
anatomy of the pulmonary artery, but also its
function, which can be described as an “artery”
since it comes out of the heart, but also a “vein”
since it carries venous blood. The same goes to his
amazing description of the “Venous Artery”.
Ibn Al Nafis has obviously followed proper
investigative methodology before many others.
Recently, there has been
a resurgence in the interest of Ibn Al Nafis’ work
that has further illustrated his pioneering theory
and practice. This we will elaborate on in the
coming issues.
-- A. A. Gehani, MB,
FRCP Edin, FACA, FESC
Editor-in-Chief
