Abstract:
Modern sleep specialists are taught that, before the twentieth century, sleep was universally classified as a passive phenomenon with minimal to no brain activity. However, these assertions are made on the basis of particular readings and reconstructions of the history of sleep, using Western European medical works and ignoring works composed in other parts of the world. In this first of two articles on Arabic medical discussions on sleep, I shall show that sleep was not understood to be a purely passive phenomenon, at least from the time of Ibn Sīnā (lat. Avicenna, d. 1037) onward. Building on the earlier Greek medical tradition, Ibn Sīnā provided a new pneumatic understanding of sleep that allowed him to explain previously recorded phenomena associated with sleep, while providing a way to capture how certain parts of the brain (and body) can even increase their activities during sleep.
摘要:
现代睡眠专家被教导,在二十世纪之前,睡眠被普遍归类为被动现象,大脑活动很少甚至没有。然而,这些断言是根据对睡眠历史的特定阅读和重建做出的,使用西欧医疗作品,而忽略世界其他地区的作品。在这两篇关于阿拉伯医学讨论睡眠的文章中,我将证明睡眠不被理解为纯粹的被动现象,至少从伊本·塞纳(拉特。Avicenna,d.1037)向前。建立在早期希腊医学传统的基础上,伊本·塞纳提供了对睡眠的新的气动理解,使他能够解释以前记录的与睡眠有关的现象,同时提供了一种方法来捕获大脑(和身体)的某些部分甚至可以在睡眠期间增加其活动。