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Secondary sourceBook13th century

Commentary on Anatomy in Avicenna's Canon

Ibn al-Nafis · 13th century

A 13th-century commentary by Ibn al-Nafis on Avicenna's Canon, correcting its anatomy and describing pulmonary circulation.

This later commentary tested and corrected Avicenna's anatomy, showing how his Canon was studied and challenged after his death.

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About this source

What it is

This 13th-century work by the Arab physician Ibn al-Nafis is a critical commentary on the anatomy sections of Avicenna's Canon of Medicine. The manuscript was discovered in 1924 in Berlin and later translated into Latin by Andrea Alpago in 1520.

Why it matters

Ibn al-Nafis used Avicenna's Canon as his starting point but went further, giving the earliest known description of pulmonary and coronary circulation and predicting the existence of capillaries, later confirmed by Marcello Malpighi. The work shows the Canon's authority among later physicians, and also how they tested, questioned and improved on Avicenna's ideas.

Look closer

  • Why would a physician write a whole commentary correcting a single part of an earlier, respected book?
  • What does it tell us about medieval science that Ibn al-Nafis predicted capillaries centuries before they could be observed?
  • How does this text show the relationship between a famous authority and the scholars who come after?

This book is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Avicenna on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

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