Pediatric surgery in Islamic medicine from the Middle Ages to the Renaissance

Albucasis lived throughout the tenth century, practicing medicine for more than 40 years in Zahra at the outskirts of Cordoba. This was the period of the greatest splendour of Arab domination of Spain. Albucasis taught medicine at the university of Cordoba and published an encyclopedia of medicine comprising 30 volumes, the last one dealing with surgery. This work was translated into all civilized languages and was the standard medical textbook right till the eighteenth century. This paper deals with many pediatric surgical conditions as described in Albucasis' 30th volume. The pathology and treatment of harelip, hydrocephalus, the adenoids, ranula, gynecomastia, imperforated external urinary meatus, circumcision, hermaphrodites, imperforate anus, and supernumerary and webbed finger were all described by Albucasis, and his remarks are discussed here in some detail.