Discussion and Conclusions

This chapter draws some conclusions from the researches laid out in the previous chapter. It considers the extent of the Indian contribution to the inventory of medicinal substances in the early Islamic period, as well as how evidence of such contributions seems so scarce in comparison. The chapter also discusses the distribution of these drugs and how they were spurred on by ‘strong market forces’ — namely, the new trading routes and economic conditions created by the Arab conquests and their governmental policies. Literature and translations were just one way to transmit medical knowledge from the Classical to the Arab world and from there to the West; others were trade, diplomacy, pilgrimage, and waves of conquests. The chapter thus shows how the Arabs rendered a transformation of the entire medieval world, including the comprehensive dominance of Greek pharmacology along with Persian and Ayurvedic drugs.

Agriculture and Pharmaceutical Innovations: Milestones in Research and Case Studies

This chapter reconstructs a list as possible of all the ‘new’ medicinal substances that were more widely distributed than in the pre-Islamic period. It studies the contribution and influence of these substances on the theoretical and practical medieval medical legacy as well as how, and to what extent, these substances merge with the development and distribution of ‘new’ technologies and industries that evolved in the Middle Ages such as textiles and paper, and with the new trends, demands, and fashions regarding perfumes, ornaments, and foodstuffs. The chapter also seeks to trace the main routes of trade in these substances in the new ‘Arab space’ and to assess the actual relevance that should be ascribed to the Greek and Indian legacies in the formation of Arab medicine and pharmacology.

Introduction

This chapter traces the history of Arab medicine and science and how Greek, Indian, and Persian medical knowledge had come to Arab medical practices. It considers the Arab attitude to science, the translation of Greek science into Arabic, as well as the assimilation of theoretical and practical medicine into Arab culture. Hereafter the chapter considers the influences of Persian and Indian medicines in Arab culture, and how Baghdad acted as the hub and crossroads through which diverse intercultural medical legacies passed: those of the Greek, Indian, Persian, and the local Mesopotamian. Finally, the chapter turns to the trends and distribution of medicinal substances and other products that emerged from the Islamic conquests from the seventh to eighth centuries — a process that persisted through to the tenth to twelfth centuries and even later.

‘Arabian’ Substances

This chapter describes the main medicinal substances that were distributed as a result of the Muslim conquests. It presents about half of nearly a hundred of these substances. Most of the entries in this chapter discuss substances that were clearly identified, along with evidence of practical uses in medical books and prescriptions, as well as commercial documents. Exploration of these is limited only to the typical medicinal substances, some of which had also been used as spices, perfumes, dyes, and gemstones. These drugs were commonly used for long periods, many of them having been utilized until the nineteenth century. In this manner, the long-term contribution of the Arabs in introducing the ‘new’ drugs in the Old World is clearly demonstrated.