Abubakr Muhammad Ibn Zakaria Razi, Rhazes (865–925 ad)

Excerpt

While scientific productivity became stagnant in the West, such ancient Islamic scientists as Rhazes continued the mission of advancing science and medicine. Rhazes (Fig. 1) (Persian: Arabic: ) also known as Ibn Zakariya, ar-Razi, or Razi, was born in Ray, a city a just south of modern Tehran in 865 ad. Although this monumental Persian physician wrote more than 200 books, he died a blind pauper [6]. He was a pupil of al-Tabari once removed. This influential Persian was an early pioneer in many areas including pediatrics and neurosurgery [6]. Two major contributions of Rhazes to medicine were the book Kitab al-Mansuri (Liber Al Mansuri), which was dedicated to the Samanid ruler of Ray and Kitab al-Hawi (Liber Continens, meaning a comprehensive book or encyclopedia) [4]. The anatomy section of Kitab al-Mansuri was organized into different chapters devoted to structures such as bones, nerves, muscles, veins and arteries, and organs such as the eyes, nose, heart, and intestines. Rhazes was the first to utilize neuroanatomy in the localization of lesions of the nervous system and to correlate them with clinical signs. He described nerves as having motor and sensory functions while enumerating seven cranial nerves from the optic to the hypoglossal nerves and 31 spinal nerves [6]. He considered the olfactory nerve as part of the brain and thus did not include it as a cranial nerve. The third and fourth cranial nerves were parts of the trigeminal nerve and the fifth cranial nerve was considered the combined facial and vestibulocochlear nerves. The sixth cranial nerve was the combined glossopharyngeal, vagus, and spinal accessory nerves. Rhazes gave elaborate descriptions of the spinal nerves and their intervertebral foramina. Some anatomical descriptions that Rhazes proposed were original and had not been reported before him. For example, he first described the recurrent laryngeal nerve as a mixed sensory and motor nerve [1].

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