Avicenna

An Encyclopaedia of Occultism (1920)

Named Aben Sina by Hebrew writers, but properly, Ebor Sina, or to give his long array of names in full-Al-Sheikh Al-Rayis Abu Ali Al-Hossein ben Abdallah ben Sina, born at Kharmatain, near Bokhara, in the year of the Hegira 370, or A.D. 980. He was educated at Bokhara, and displayed such extraordinary precocity that when he had reached his tenth year, he had completely mastered the Koran, and acquired a knowledge of algebra, the Mussulman theology, and the His ab ul-Hind, or arithmetic of the Hindoos. Under Abdallah Al- Natheli he studied logic, Euclid, and the Almagest , and then, as a diversion, devoted himself to the study of medicine. He was only twenty-one years old when he composed his Kitab al-Majmu or, The Book of the Sum Total, whose mysteries he afterwards endeavoured to elucidate in a commentary. in twenty volumes. His reputation for wisdom and erudition was so great that on the death of his father he was promoted by Sultan Magdal Douleth to the high office of Grand Vizier, which he held with advantage to the State until a political revolution accomplished the downfall of the Samanide dynasty. He then quitted Bokhara, and wandered from place to place, increasing his store of knowledge, but yielding himself to a life of the grossest sensuality. About 1012 he retired to Jorjan, where he began his great work on medicine, which is still held in some repute as one of the earliest systems of that art with any pretensions to philosophical completeness. It is arranged with singular clearness, and presents a very admirable resumé of the doctrines of the ancient Greek physicians. Avicenna subsequently lived at Rui, Kazwin, and Ispahan, where he became physician to the Persian sovereign, Alaeddaulah. He is said to have been dismissed from this post on account of his debauched living. He then retired to Hamadan, where, worn out with years of sensual indulgence, he died, at the age of 58, in 1038. His works on philosophy, mathematics, and medicine, are nearly one hundred in number, and include at least seven treatises on the Philosopher's Stone. His Book of the Canon of Medicine acquired an European celebrity, and has been several times translated into Latin. Contemporary with Avicenna were numerous votaries of the alchemistical science, and almost every professor of medicine was an astrologer The influence of the stars upon the conditions of the human body was generally accepted as a first principle in medicine; and the possible transmutation of metals engaged the attention of every enquiring intellect. At the same time, the Arabians were almost the sole depositaries of human knowledge; and in the East glowed that steadily-shining light which, never utterly extinct, had withdrawn its splendour and its glory from the classic lands of the West. "They cultivated with success," says Gibbon, "the sublime science of astronomy, which elevates the mind of man to disdain his diminutive planet and monentary existence." The names of Mesua and Geber, of Rhazis and Avicenna, are ranked with the Grecian masters; in the city of Bagdad, eight hundred and sixty physicians were licensed to exercise their lucrative profession; in Spain , the life of the Catholic princes was entrusted to the skill of the Saracens, and the school of Salerno, their legitimate offspring, revived in Italy and Europe the precepts of the healing art.