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Rules About Medicines of the Heart

Avicenna

A manuscript copy of Avicenna's treatise on cardiac remedies, held by the Wellcome Collection.

A manuscript of Avicenna's own treatise on heart remedies, illustrating his detailed medical writing.

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Open manuscript spread in Arabic script on aged paper. Left page has black calligraphic text within a red and gold ruled frame. Right page has an illuminated gold and blue arabesque frontispiece above a red-framed heading, with more text below. — Ibn Sina (Avicenna), Rules about medicines of the heart. Wellcome Collection, Or. 73.

About this source

What it is

This is a manuscript copy of a treatise by Ibn Sina (Avicenna) on remedies for the heart, written in Arabic. It is part of the Wellcome Collection's Asian manuscript holdings, referenced as Wellcome Or. 73.

Why it matters

Avicenna wrote extensively on specific illnesses and treatments as part of his larger medical works. This treatise shows his detailed, practical approach to medicine, focused on remedies for a single organ, the heart, reflecting the careful diagnostic tradition he helped establish.

Look closer

What does the decorated frontispiece on the right page suggest about how valuable this text was considered?
Why might a physician write a separate short treatise focused only on the heart?
What would you want to know about how these 'remedies' were actually used on patients?

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.