Pharmacopia and Index of the Complete Five Volumes First Edition by Avicenna

Avicenna structured his Pharmacopia beginning with the formulas for compound medications arranged according to the various types of preparations that he found in the previous medical books translated into Arabic from Greek and Syriac and then the compound medications arranged according to treating diseases from head to toe that were based on his own experience and usage with patients. Volume 5 lists more than 800 pharmacologically tested simple and complex drugs, including plant and mineral substances, with a thorough description of their application and effectiveness. For each one, he described their pharmaceutical actions from a range of twenty-two to thirty possibilities, including resolution, astringency and softening, and their specific properties according to a grid of eleven types of pathological conditions, diseases. This volume not only contains an index of the contents based on healing properties of the 800 natural pharmaceuticals, but in addition a comprehensive 400 page index of all five volumes based on the names of the natural healers and what they heal.