- eral by many moderns." From this account it is fair to
conclude that Rhazes, in the tenth century of the Christian era, as clearly suspected the germ origin of certain febrile diseases as Liebermeister did toward the end of the nineteenth, or as Fracastoro did in the sixteenth. And one cannot help exclaiming: How many centuries had to elapse, and what an immense amount of other facts had still to be discovered—facts in anatomy, in physiology, in chemistry, in optics, etc.—before it became possible to convert this suspicion, this simple product of the reasoning faculty, into an actual demonstration of the truth in pathology!
Among the Arabian physicians of the eleventh century Avicenna is certainly one who should be placed in the first rank. He was born in 980 A. D. at Afschena, a village in the Province of Khorassan, Persia, and spent his youth in Bokhara, where his father held some high office under the Government. His great intellectual capacity was revealed at an early age. It is said, for example, that already before he was ten years old he had committed the entire Koran to memory; and it is added, further, that when he was only seventeen years old he had already acquired such knowledge of medicine that he was invited to take part in a consultation regarding some malady with which the Emir Nuch ben Mansur was affected. The advice which he gave on this occasion was followed, and in the sequel it proved so good that he was granted, as a reward, unrestricted access to the royal library,—a privilege which he utilized to the very best advantage. When his father died Avicenna came into possession of a large fortune, which enabled him to indulge in a great deal of traveling. In this way he visited one Persian Court after another throughout a period of several years. Finally, during a residence at Hamadan, the Prince Schems ed-Daula, whom Avicenna had successfully treated for some malady, made him his Vizir. While he held this office he managed, without neglecting his official duties, to continue his scientific studies; but he was not able entirely to keep out of political intrigues, and as a consequence his life was for a short time in some danger. He was confined for several months
