On the Threshold of the 8th Decade of Tehran University of Medical Sciences

The history of medical sciences in Iran has roots in the stable cultural and scientific pillars of this land. The scientific works of modern Iranian physicians are a drop in the sea of the great scientific services rendered in Iran in the field of medical sciences over the course of history.

Iran’s National Museum of Medical Sciences, which is affiliated to the Tehran University of Medical Sciences, manifests a small part of Iran’s medical history with exhibits on anthropology, handwritten documents, old prescriptions of physicians, ophthalmology, Iran’s first military pharmacy, medical sciences during the Sacred Defense (1980-1988 Iran-Iraq war), and veterinary medicine.

Iran’s National Museum of Medical Sciences was formally inaugurated by the Tehran University of Medical Sciences, with the cooperation of the Cultural Heritage Organization, in the summer of 1380 (2001) in order to chronicle the entire history of traditional and modern medicine in Iran and the world.    

The museum was established with the objective of compiling and recording the total history of traditional and modern medicine in Iran, gathering, categorizing, and exhibiting medical works, instruments, documents, and old prescriptions, and disseminating information about Iran’s medical history.

In line with the aforesaid objectives of Iran’s National Museum of Medical Sciences, one pavilion of the museum displays medical instruments. The instruments in this section are divided into two groups. The first group consists of ancient and antique medical instruments of the prehistoric, early historic, and early Islamic eras, and the other group consists of modern medical equipment.

Another pavilion of the museum focuses on anthropology. This section documents part of the evolution of the human species as well as the process of the development of stone tools and instruments in Iran and features various exhibits such as a number of human skeletons and skulls and a male mummy unearthed in archaeological excavations in different parts of Iran.

Human evolution since the era of the anthropoids, mainly discovered by anthropologists on the basis of the shape and capacity of skulls found in Africa, is illustrated in the form of posters.

In this section, a chart of the evolutionary tree from the first anthropoids of 4.5 million years ago to modern intelligent human beings is also on display.

In addition, this pavilion features a chart illustrating the development of stone tools and instruments of various species of human beings in different archaeological eras. Some of the stone tools and instruments in this section are from Iran’s Paleolithic and Neolithic eras.

There is a skull in this section that is one of the oldest examples of surgery in ancient times. Another priceless exhibit in this section of the museum is another skull of a person whose exact name is known (from the information on the gravestone). Another interesting exhibit is a corpse of an old woman whose body was naturally mummified by environmental factors.

The Pavilion of Handwritten Prescriptions and Documents is another section of Iran’s National Museum of Medical Sciences. A number of handwritten prescriptions of traditional medicine, autopsy and disease reports, and other prescriptions with directions are on display in this pavilion.

In addition, a collection of medical documents on different subjects including the dispatch of physicians to various cities, medical announcements about various kinds of diseases, an announcement of the Education Ministry on the conditions for establishing medical offices in Tehran, and the mortality statistics of various diseases in Tehran, related to the first health organization in Iran (Sehhiyeh Department), are exhibited in this section of the museum.

This pavilion contains many rare handwritten prescriptions, including a prescription written by Almansouri Tasnif Zakaria Razi that is Iran’s oldest dated prescription. The documents of Dr. Ahmadieh and the family of Dr. Nezamieh are from other valuable collections of Iran’s National Museum of Medical Sciences.

The Sacred Defense Pavilion is a new section in which medical instruments used during the 1980-1988 Iraqi imposed war on Iran and the uniforms and gas masks of soldiers are exhibited.

One of the other sections of the museum worth seeing is its military pharmacy. Iran’s former Ministry of War had purchased this very military pharmacy from Austria in an auction (circa 1854–1860) and the late Brigadier General Hadi Khan was placed in charge of it. The pharmacy was established on the former Cheraq Gaz Street (now known as Amir Kabir Street). Some 25 to 30 years later, after the death of Hadi Khan, the nephew of Hadi Khan, Mirza Abdul Hussein Khan Nezami, who had studied pharmaceutics at Dar-ul Fonoun, was placed in charge of the pharmacy.

After the late Abdul Hussein Khan Nezami was placed in charge of the pharmacy, orderly record books were kept registering the date of the prescription, the name of the physician and patient, the type of medicine and its dosage, and the price. Due to the excellent reputation of the pharmacy, on Shaban 24, 1323 A.H. (October 23, 1905), Mirza Abdul Hussein Khan was appointed as the supervisor of the Education Ministry responsible for preventing the sale and stocking of foreign and contaminated medicines in the traditional pharmacies located in neighboring areas.

This pharmacy was the first and only pharmacy which satisfied all the pharmaceutical needs of the military at the time, and it ordered and imported all its required medicine from foreign countries.

After being renovated, the military pharmacy was put on display in Iran’s National Museum of Medical Sciences during a ceremony held by the museum on September 2, 2003 to commemorate the Nezami family. Some syrup-making, pill-making, and suppository-making machines as well as some pharmaceutical brochures are exhibited in the pharmacy. Many interesting documents are also exhibited in the pharmacy, including the first agenda of the Tehran Pharmacists Association.

One of the other pavilions of the museum is dedicated to the history of modern ophthalmology in Iran and the memory of Professor Mohammad-Qoli Shams, the founder of ophthalmology in Iran.

In another part of the museum, traditional medicines are exhibited. Since ancient times, man realized that he could use plants and pharmaceutical products derived from plants to cure diseases threatening his health. Alongside the development of science, the ground was prepared for the utilization of plants as medicines, and through extensive research, new secrets of the mysterious world of plants were discovered.

The Veterinary Medicine Pavilion is another section of Iran’s National Museum of Medical Sciences. In this pavilion, various kinds of medical instruments used to cure livestock diseases are exhibited.

The special library of Iran’s National Museum of Medical Sciences is one of the side sections of the museum. Some 10,000 books on various subjects such as medical history, pharmaceutics, botany, bioethics, biological principles, the history of the sciences, general and special reference books, and rare old and new books written in the Persian, Arabic, English, French, and German languages are kept in this library. Also, the library contains a number of rare handwritten medical prescriptions, available for researchers of medical history and bioethics.

The exhibits on display at Iran’s National Museum of Medical Sciences, which is affiliated to the Tehran University of Medical Sciences, chronicle the history of medicine in Iran. The existence of such a museum helps medical students become familiarized with the history of this ancient science in Iran and encourages them to make more endeavors to follow the path of the pioneers of this science.

SA/HG

End

MNA