Abu Bakr al-Razi (Rhazes) · Science

Reading the Body: Smallpox and Measles

Al-Razi&rsquo;s <em>Treatise on the Small-Pox and Measles</em> - the first clear clinical account to tell the two diseases apart, built not from books but from watching patients: description itself became the diagnosis.

What you'll be able to recall

You learned that al-Razi wrote the first authentic clinical description separating smallpox from measles, that he did it by close first-hand observation rather than inherited authority, and that his period explanation of the cause (a humoral &lsquo;fermentation&rsquo; of the blood) was mistaken even though his descrip…

Leads to Edward Jenner.

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