Tārīkh-i pizishkī i.e., Medical History

Abstract

We have observed a new approach to medicine in its modern concept in the Qajar dynasty specially after the foundation of Dar al-Fonoon School. In other words, foundation of the above-mentioned school is a pivotal point and a glorious and historic revolution in the process of social and scientific revolution of the society. It is worth mentioning that foundation of this School alongside other factors paved the way to trespass from tradition to modernity although with a lot of shortcomings. These factors are as follows: Increase of international communications (whether at governmental or individual levels), trips taken abroad, increase in dispatching students abroad, increase in foreign advisors and attending physicians and generally, the appearance of modernistic and open-minded discourses among ideational and political elites and some of advocates of western culture. Regardless of these accepted criticisms concerning structural changes, the process of changes in all social and specially scientific fields can be observed including medicine and public health. Therefore, in this era one can find out efforts to replace modern medicine with traditional medicine in a tangible way. The importance of medical developments in these eras become more clear when we compare Iranian society with many eastern and Asian societies. Nevertheless, there is less possibility of understanding changes related to those eras due to the shortcoming in documents and scientific sources in the process of medical changes in Iran and finally, we will reach a superficial judgment concerning medical and health changes in Iran merely based on the sources most of which are repetitive. For example, one of such sources which is one of the best ones, is a book entitled Iranian Medical History written by an English author Seril Elgod. Although it provides the reader with a lot of information, this book contains a lot of exaggerations concerning the effects and roles the English played in the development of Iranian health system which can only be proved through documented and certain sources. In the book entitled Iranian Medical History in Qajarian Dynasty authored by Seril Elgod, a lot of detailed documents regarding Iranian Health and medical changes in Qajarian dynasty have been presented with a critical nature. The present article contains a small sample of those written documents.