A Study of the Canon of Medicine of Avicenna over a period of over forty years, guided by a simple key, has brought an undiminished admiration for this work, now about thousand years old, and still in use in the East. It is therefore a great satisfaction that a new English translation has become available through the untiring and painstaking work of Dr. Mazhar H. Shah. The selection of the best equivalents in English for the main originate terms has become important in view of the changed meanings of many words during the past decades.
There are, of course, very many similarities between the Canon and the works of Hippocrates and other medical works of the period during which Avicenna flourished, yet one has always preferred to see something different in his “Medicine”, something of the ageless. Present-day readers are able to assess the Canon for themselves now that it is once more available in English. The distinctive headings throughout the book greatly facilitate the cross-reference needed to arrive at an assessment. Moreover, the anatomy section makes this translation unique.
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