| Al-Baitar | |
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Al-Baitar
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| Born | 1197 Málaga |
| Died | 1248 Damascus |
| Nationality | Andalusian |
| Fields | Botanist, Scientist, Pharmacist, Physician |
| Known for | Scientific classification Oncology |
| Influences | Al-Ghafiqi, Maimonides |
| Influenced | Ibn Abī Uṣaybiʿa, Amir Dowlat, Andrea Alpago[1] |
Ibn al-Bayṭār al-Mālaqī, Ḍiyāʾ Al-Dīn Abū Muḥammad ʿAbdllāh Ibn Aḥmad (or just Ibn al-Baytar, Arabic: ابن البيطار) (circa, 1188–1248) was an Andalusian scientist, botanist, pharmacist and physician who worked during the Islamic Golden Age and Arab Agricultural Revolution. His main contribution was to systematically record the discoveries made by Islamic physicians in the Middle Ages, which added between 300 and 400 types of medicine to the one thousand previously known since antiquity.[1]
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Born in the Andalusian city of Málaga at the end of the 12th century, he learned botany from the Málagan botanist Abu al-Abbas al-Nabati with whom he started collecting plants in and around Spain. Al-Nabati was responsible for developing an early scientific method, introducing empirical and experimental techniques in the testing, description and identification of numerous materia medica, and separating unverified reports from those supported by actual tests and observations. Such an approach was thus adopted by Ibn al-Baitar.[2]
In 1219, Ibn al-Baitar left Málaga to travel in the Islamic world to collect plants. He travelled from the northern coast of Africa as far as Anatolia. The major stations he visited include Bugia, Constantinople, Tunis, Tripoli, Barqa and Adalia.
After 1224, he entered the service of al-Kamil, an Ayyubid Sultan, and was appointed chief herbalist. In 1227 al-Kamil extended his domination to Damascus, and Ibn al-Baitar accompanied him there which provided him an opportunity to collect plants in Syria. His researches on plants extended over a vast area including Arabia and Palestine. He died in Damascus in 1248.
Al-Baytar used the name "snow of China" (Arabic: ثلج الصين thalj al-Sin) to describe saltpetre while writing about gunpowder.[3][4]
Ibn al-Baitar’s major contribution is Kitāb Al-jāmiʿ li-mufradāt al-adwiya wa al-aghdhiya (Arabic: كتاب الجامع في مفردات الأدوية والأغذية), which greatly influenced the works of later writers, especially in the Near East, in and out of the Islamic world.[1] It was a pharmacopoeia (pharmaceutical encyclopedia) listing 1,400 plants, foods, and drugs. The book also contains references to 150 other previous Arabic authors as well as 20 previous Greek authors.[5]
Ibn al-Baitar also provides detailed chemical information on the Rosewater and Orangewater production. He mentions: The scented Shurub (Syrup) was often extracted from flowers and rare leaves, by means of using hot oils and fat, they were later cooled in cinnamon oil. The oils used were also extracted from sesame and olives. Ethereal oil was produced by joining various resorts, the steam from these resorts condensed and combined and its scented droplets were used as perfume and mixed to produce the most costly medicines.
Ibn Al-Baitar’s second major work is Kitāb al-mughnī fī al-adwiya al-mufradaa, an encyclopedia of Islamic medicine which incorporates his knowledge of plants used extensively for the treatment of various ailments, including diseases related to the head, ear, eye, etc.[5]
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