Avicenna Canon of Medicine Volume 5: Pharmacopia and Index of the Complete Five Volumes

I was happy to find that Volume 5 actually lists more than 800 pharmacologically tested simple and complex drugs, including plant and mineral substances, with a thorough description of their application and effectiveness. For each one, Avicenna described their pharmaceutical actions from a range of twenty-two to thirty possibilities, including resolution, astringency and softening, and their specific properties according to a grid of eleven types of pathological conditions, diseases. To my surprise, this volume not only contains an index of the contents based on healing properties of the 800 natural pharmaceuticals, but in addition a comprehensive 400 page index of all five volumes based on the names of the natural healers and what they heal.

To translate a book like Avicenna's Canon, with all those herbs and compounds old and scientific names to plain English, is such a monumental job that is beyond my apprehension... Ms. Bakhtiar makes is feel like a breeze, but this is no walk in a park... A must have for anyone into Oriental and Alternative Medicine.