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Jorjani(1042–1137)
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J Neurol
DOI 10.1007/s00415-012-6637-9
PIONEERS IN NEUROLOGY
Jorjani (1042–1137)
Mohammad M. Zarshenas • Arman Zargaran
Zohreh Abolhassanzadeh • Karim Vessal
•
Received: 28 May 2012 / Revised: 18 July 2012 / Accepted: 20 July 2012
Ó Springer-Verlag 2012
In the medical history of Persia, following the footsteps of
influential scholars such as Rhazes, Haly Abbas and Avicenna, another prominent scientist and physician emerges
in the early medieval era, is the person of Jorjani (Hussain
ibn Muhammad ibn Mahmoud ibn Ahmad Hussaini Jorjani) (Fig. 1). He was born in Jorjan (Gorgan), a city in the
northeast of Iran, on April 19, 1024 AD [7]. He completed
his medical education under Abd al-Rahman ibn Ali ibn
Abi Sadegh (995–1077 AD), who is often regarded as the
second Hippocrates [4], together with Ahmad ibn Farrukh,
author of the medical encyclopedia The Essentials [6]. In
addition to medicine, Jorjani was also interested in Islamic
jurisprudence and Sufism [8]. In 1110 AD, he moved to
Khwarazm, the capital of the Kharazmshahi dynasty to
become court physician of Qutb al Din Mohammad [6].
There, he was later nominated director of the large municipal hospital and pharmacy [8]. Finally, Jorjani settled in
Merv, the capital city of the Seljuk dynasty, where he died
in 1137 AD [6].
Although the lingua franca of the Islamic territories
during the medieval time was Arabic [6], Jorjani changed
this tradition and used Persian texts and terminology to
describe medical subjects. Therefore, he is documented as
M. M. Zarshenas K. Vessal
Research Office for the History of Persian Medicine,
Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran
M. M. Zarshenas A. Zargaran (&) Z. Abolhassanzadeh
Student Research Committee, Shiraz University of Medical
Sciences, Shiraz, Iran
e-mail: [email protected]
A. Zargaran Z. Abolhassanzadeh
Department of Traditional Pharmacy, Faculty of Pharmacy
and Pharmaceutical Sciences Research Center,
Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran
Fig. 1 Portrait of Jorjani (1042–1137), by Mrs Somayeh Tabatabaei
(born in 1978). The portrait is kept in the Museum of Shiraz
University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran
the author of the first large medical encyclopedia in the
Persian language during the Islamic era [9]. He completed
this comprehensive work at the age of 70, using his vast
experience in medicine [3]. This work, Zakhireye Kharazmshahi (Treasure of the Khwarazm Shah) is now
regarded as the largest Persian medical encyclopedia,
comprising more than 750,000 words and ten volumes; it
can be compared with the Canon of Avicenna and the
Continens of Rhazes [2, 3]. In addition to his own experience, Jorjani expanded on the experimental findings of
Rhazes and rational descriptions of Avicenna, while he
referred to various Persian, Greek, and Islamic scholars
before him, with the intention to create standard medical
terms in Zakhireye Kharazmshahi [8]. His book covers
nearly all aspects of medicine, including principles of
123
J Neurol
medicine, human anatomy and physiology, etiology of
diseases, health and hygiene, and nutrition; it also contains
descriptions of medical procedures such as blood sampling,
cupping and venesection, disease symptoms and their
management, surgical approaches and pharmacology [1].
Neurology and allied disciplines are covered in the sixth
volume, which contains five chapters and 47 subchapters
on different types of headache, inflammation and meningitis, hydrocephalus, epilepsy and seizures, paralysis,
apoplexy and stroke, nervous tic and tremor, wry mouth,
asthenia, fainting and stupor, vertigo, nightmare, insomnia
and hypersomnia, amnesia and dementia, and sexual and
psychic disorders [4]. Subsequently, the book was translated into Turkish, Hebrew, and Urdu [9]. After Zakhireye
Kharazmshahi, Jorjani compiled another book, Al-aghrazol Tabieh (medical objectives), which contained 250,000
words [8]. He wrote yet another book named Yadegar
(Keepsake), which includes five chapters on medicine and
pharmacy; his final treatises are an abstract of Zakhireye
Kharazmshahi and another work named Khofi-e-alaii
(Alaii’s secret) [6, 8].
As a Persian scholar who is not well known in the West,
Jorjani dedicated a large part of his findings and experiences to neuroanatomy and clinical neurology [7]. He made
numerous discoveries and innovations [1]; some of them
related to neuroscience. The clarity of the descriptions of
neurological disorders in the Zakhireye Kharazmshahi is
impressive. Nerve tics and disorders that affect facial
musculature (wry mouth) are simply and clearly discussed
in the relevant chapter of Zakhireye Kharazmshahi. He
even described different types of wry mouth (unilateral
facial weakness and convulsive movements) [4]. Jorjani’s
concepts of neuroanatomy bear some resemblance to those
of Avicenna with regard to the neural conduction of pain
[7].
Although Rhazes is generally regarded as the first to
render a complete and original description of facial palsy
[10], Jorjani’s comments and explanation of this disorder
are remarkable. He accurately described two types of facial
palsy; spastic and paralytic. While the paralytic type would
originate in the facial nerve, the spastic variety was muscular and secondary to spasm or inflammation of the facial
or cervical muscles [5]. Also the description by Jorjani of
the association between trigeminal neuralgia and arterial
movements close to the nerve is a novel theory for his time
[7]. He was also the first to describe the relationship
between exophthalmia and goiter [1]. In his description of
the optic nerve, Jorjani believed that light reached the brain
through this nerve and he comprehensively described the
optic chiasm [4]. In Zakhireh Kharazmshahi as well as in
Al-aghraz-ol Tabieh, Jorjani classified the number of cranial nerve pairs as seven; before him, Rhazes had counted
123
them as eight pairs [10]. In fact, Jorjani believed that the
olfactory and optic nerves originated together as the first
cranial nerve [4]. Jorjani meticulously explained the relationship between branches of third and fifth cranial nerves
and stated that nerves arising from this connection are
related to the muscles of cheek and temple [6]. Apparently
facial and vestibulocochlear nerves are regarded as the fifth
nerve in Jorjani’s description, while the third pair in his
view would be the trigeminal nerve in current terminology.
In his anatomical description of the brain, Jorjani distinguished three parts: forebrain, midbrain, and hindbrain [4].
Jorjani, though member of the second generation of
scholars after Avicenna, had a lasting influence on the
progress of medical sciences in his own right [1, 4]. He
made important and original contributions to neurology.
His findings in neuroscience can be considered a connection between medieval knowledge of medicine and modern
medical science. Nowadays in Iran, as commemoration of
Jorjani’s role in medicine and allied sciences, his birthday
is celebrated annually as ‘‘the day of laboratory medicine’’
[7].
Conflicts of interest
interest.
The Authors do not have any conflict of
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