A Concise History of Science in India c8.s9.2

c8.s9.2

The system of the healing art known in India as the *Unani Tibb* is the same as that called ‘Arabian Medicine’ by the European historians and medical men. They call it ‘Arabian’ because they had received it through the Arabic medical writers. The Indians call it *Unani* because it is mainly based on the Greek system which was founded by Hippocrates and developed by Aristotle, Galen and other Greek writers. The Arabic medical writers, having taken it from the Greeks, developed it further in the light of Persian medical traditions and of the Indian system of medicine, modified and improved it as a result of their own observation and experience, and handed it down to the posterity. Hippocrates has been accepted as the father of Greek medicine. To him is attributed the Greek humoral theory which laid down that the living organism consisted of four humours—blood, phlegm, black bile and yellow bile. Each of them consisted of four elements—fire, water, air and earth, each of which possessed some particular quality—heat, coolness, dryness and humidity. The organism and its single parts possess these essential qualities. The essential factor in life is the natural heat, the seat of which is the left heart. It pervades the entire organism. If the humours and their elements are in proper proportions and are properly mingled, the organism enjoys perfect health, and, if it is disturbed due to internal or external causes, disease sets in. The natural heat tries to combat it. It is the duty of the physician to help the natural healing power of the organism by suitable medicine when necessary and not to supersede or impede it. The therapeutics of Hippocrates was not bound by any fixed rules. It was essentially individualistic. According to him the physician should treat the sick and not the sickness.