Introduction - Uppsala Monitoring Centre

topical antiseptics. Al-Razi was the first to include in the
pharmacopoeia the white-lead ointment, later on known in the
Middle Ages in Europe as Album Rhases, and the first to use
mercury as a purgative and also tested it in monkeys (Abramowitz,
1934).
868 AD The use of woodblock printing came in during the Tang Dynasty in
868 AD.
9 th Century AD ‘The Medical use of opium in 9th century Baghdad ‘ by Selma Tibi,
2006. ‘Dizziness, hiccups, dimmed vision, choking, body chills,
severe convulsions, deep sleep and a smell of opium when the body
is scratched.’ These adverse effects were extracted from six books:
‘Al-Aqrabadhin 32 ’ [Medical formulary] of Abu Yusuf Ya’qub ibn
Ishaq al-Kindi (c800–870 AD).
‘Al-Aqrabadhin’ [Medical formulary] of Sabur ibn Sahl (d.869).
‘Kitab al-ashr maqalat fi al-‘ayn’ [The book of the ten treatises on
the eye] by Hunain ibn Ishaq (870–892 AD).
‘Firdaws al-hikma’ [Paradise of wisdom] by Ali ibn Sahl Rabban al-
Tabari.
‘Kitab al-Dhakhira’ [The book of treasure] by Thabit ibn Qurra.
‘Kitab al-Hawi fi al-tibb’ [Liber continens] by Abu Bakr Muhammad
ibn Zakariya’ al-Razi (b.865 AD) (Tibi, 2006).
900–950 AD Leechbook 33 of Bald in three parts. ‘For a woman’s chatter taste at
night fasting a root of radish that the chatter cannot harm them.’ No
mention of adverse effects. It included details from the work of
Gariopontus’ predecessors from the Salerno medical school,
showing that Anglo-Saxon medical practice was in no way inferior to
its continental neighbours (Talbot, 1965).
918 AD The first book of medicinal herbs written by a Japanese author
appeared in 918. It is ‘Honzou-wamyou’ which means drugs of
natural origin.
931 AD Medical practitioners in mediaeval Islamic countries were licensed by
boards under the inspector general,called the Muhtasib, whose
duties included the supervision of the makers of drugs and syrups to
ensure the purity of their wares’. ‘It is essential that the mutasib make
them fearful, try them, and warn them against imprisonment. He
must caution them with punishment. Their syrups and drugs may be
32 Aqrābādhin = Medical formulary
33 Leechbook = book of a member of the healing profession