[The properties of simple medicines according to Avicenna (980-1037): analysis of some sections of the Canon].

Avicenna spoke on pharmacology in several works, and this article considers his discussions in the Canon, a vast synthesis of the greco-arabian medicine of his time. More precisely, it focuses on book II, which treats simple medicines. This text makes evident that the Persian physician's central preoccupation was the efficacy of the treatment, since it concentrates on the properties of medicines. In this context, the article examines their different classifications and related topics, such as the notion of temperament, central to Avicenna's thought, and the concrete effects medicines have on the body. Yet, these theoretical notions only have sense in practical application. For Avicenna, medicine is both a theoretical and a practical science. For this reason, the second book of the Canon ends with an imposing pharmacopoeia, where the properties described theoretically at the beginning of the book appear in the list of simple medicines, so that the physician can select them according to the intended treatment's goals. The article analyzes a plant from this pharmacopoeia as an example of this practical application, making evident the logic Avicenna uses in detailing the different properties of each simple medicine.