Analyzing the biological traits of snakes in Avicenna's Canon of medicine and making a comparison with contemporary serpentology.

Autor: Rezaei Orimi J; Traditional Medicine and History of Medical Sciences Research Center, Health Research Institute, Babol University of Medical Sciences, Babol, Iran. Electronic address: Rezaei.history93@gmail.com., Eskandarzadeh N; Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, Razi University, Kermanshah, Iran. Electronic address: na.eskandarzadeh@gmail.com., Amrollahi-Sharifabadi M; Department of Basic Sciences, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Lorestan University, Khorramabad, Iran. Electronic address: amrollahi.m@lu.ac.ir., Miri V; Department of Research Sciences, Faculty of Theology, Law and Political Sciences, Azad University, Tehran, Iran. Electronic address: miri.vajihe@yahoo.com., Aghabeiglooei Z; Traditional Medicine Clinical Trial Research Center, Shahed University, Tehran, Iran. Electronic address: Aghabeiglooei@gmail.com., Rezghi M; Traditional Medicine and History of Medical Sciences Research Center, Health Research Institute, Babol University of Medical Sciences, Babol, Iran; Department of Traditional Medicine, School of Traditional Medicine, Babol University of Medical Sciences, Babol, Iran. Electronic address: m.rezghi@mubabol.ac.ir.
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: Toxicon : official journal of the International Society on Toxinology [Toxicon] 2023 Aug 01; Vol. 231, pp. 107198. Date of Electronic Publication: 2023 Jun 17.
DOI: 10.1016/j.toxicon.2023.107198
Abstrakt: Snakes are a group of reptiles in the order of squamata that have been the subject of scientific research for years. This study aimed to determine the biological characteristics of snakes that were mentioned in Avicenna's Canon of Medicine to compare with modern serpentology. Data were obtained from the Canon of Medicine using keywords concerning snakes and also appropriate literature in PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, Scientific Information Database (SID), and IranDoc. Our results revealed that Avicenna divided snakes into three classes including highly, moderately, and slightly venomous snakes that are comparable to modern serpontology. Moreover, Avicenna clarified physiological factors such as age, gender, size, psychological state, hunger state, physical features, the type of living climate, habitat, and the time of snakebite. Considering the snake features presented in the Canon of Medicine, even though is not feasible to make a full comparison between Avicenna's snake knowledge and modern serpentology but some characteristics can be still applicable. Conclusively, the present study suggested that the criteria used for the identification and classification of snakes have changed from the medieval ages to the nowadays.
Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.
(Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)
Databáze: MEDLINE
Externí odkaz: