Ibn Zuhr

Ibn Zuhr Arabic أبو مروان عبدالملك إبن زهر ، (Avenzoar, Abumeron, ibn-Zohr, or Abū Merwān ’Abdal-Malik ibn Zuhr) (1091–1161) was an Arab Muslim physician. He was the teacher of Averroes.

He was a surgeon, and did the first parenteral nutrition of humans with a silver needle. He was born and died in Seville, and studied at the University of Córdoba. Ibn Zuhr is credited with discovering the cause of scabies.

Medicine

Ibn Zuhr was the first physician known to have made postmortem dissections. He proved that the skin disease scabies was caused by a parasite, which contradicted the theory of humorism supported by Hippocrates and Galen. The removal of the parasite from the patient's body did not involve purging, bleeding, or any other traditional treatments associated with the four humours.

He also performed the first parenteral nutrition of humans with a silver needle, and wrote a book entitled The Method of Preparing Medicines and Diet.

See also

• List of Arab scientists and scholars.

References

• Islam Online
• [1]
• The History Channel on Ibn ZuhrTemplate:Med-bio-stub