XXXVIth congress
Tunis, september 1998, 6-11
 

by ROGER MAYER
Engl. Transl. by E. LOMAX

Every two years the International Society for the History of Medicine (ISHM) organises an important congress. In 1996 it was held in Greece – on the island of Cos – under the patronage of the International Hippocratic Foundation of Cos. This year Tunis – or more precisely Gammarth-Carthage – was the meeting place for more than 350 participants, belonging to about 60 nations. The site of the congress was the just completed Palace Hotel at Gammarth, a prestigious, spanking new, establishment, endowed with conference rooms equipped with the most modern infrastructures.

Let us first say something about the country. Modern Tunisia retains innumerable traces of its fascinating past that dates back to the Roman and Phoenician era in antiquity. The meeting point of numerous civilisations, this arid area that the least trickle of water transforms into a lush garden paradise has become over the centuries the cradle of multicultural developments where Arabs, Muslims, Christians and Jews met and cohabited. This flourishing Roman province in Africa progressively developed from the days of the early Phoenicians who founded Carthage, until those of the Romans who sent their legions from beyond the Sicilian Channel to fight the Punic enemy. For six centuries agriculture evolved, roads were built, and an art flourished with admirable mosaics, still surviving today, glorifying the gods, harvests, grape picking, fauna and hunting.

However, history would follow its course. Tunisia then endured the successive passage of Vandals, Byzantines, Arabs, Normans, and Turks, all on their way to clash with the Berbers, who were fierce, proud and independent native people. This lengthy epic finally ended with Tunisia – at the beginning of the contemporary era – under the protectorate of France, the last "occupying" power. Her presence for seventy years and her cultural influence are still quite perceptible in numerous aspects of daily life. The Tunisia of today is a modern, young and dynamic nation due to Habib Bourguiba, whose work is now continued by his successor, President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.

After Sunday’s welcome, the opening ceremony for the Congress began on Monday with an inaugural speech by M. Hamed El Karoui, prime minister of the Republic of Tunisia. After him came four presentations successively given by Professor Sleïm Ammar, president of the National Organising Committee, by Professor Mohammed Salah Jabri, director of the Department of Culture and Education, by Professor Ridha Malbrouk, president of the Tunisian Society for the History of Medicine and by Professor Ynez Violé O’Neill, of Los Angeles, the president of the International Society for the History of Medicine.

The inaugural session was followed by six presentations including Arab medicine, yesterday, today and tomorrow (H.A. El Jazaïri, Saudi Arabia), Contributions of medical botany to the development of the Arab Islamic pharmacopoeia (M.S. Hakim, Pakistan), European surgery from the early Middle Ages to the Renaissance (S. Mestiri, Tunisia) and History and evolution of public health in the North and the South (J. C. Sournia, France).

Monday ended with a reception given at the Nejma Ezzahra Institute, under the auspices of the minister of Culture, consisting of Arab and Mediterranean music from Sidi Bou Said by the national Troup of Popular Arts. This ended with a Carthaginian dinner offered by the minister of Tourism and Arts.

The main themes for this congress were :

This was therefore a most varied program of which some highlights will here be sketched:

On the theme of Arab and Islamic medicine – which was allotted a dominant share – more than 700 papers were presented, of which the following are striking exemplars: The Latin translations of the "Treatise on simples" by Ibn al Jazzar (I. Ben Mrad, Tunisia), Man and his tools: the fabrication of Arabo-islamic surgical instruments (A. Dhieb, Tunisia), Shawiya Berber surgical instruments in the Aures mountains (J. Kirkup, UK), Isaac Israeli’s ethical aphorism: a renewed examination (S. Kottek and h. Friedenwald, Israël), Ophthalmology and medicine: historical perspectives (L. Mokhtar, S. Saada and R. Mabrouk, Tunisia), Contribution to the study of "medicine of the mind" by Muslim physicians: focus on Rhazès (F. Touzri, Tunisia), Reflections on the origin of the "soporific sponge" (A. Ségal and G. Pallardy, France), The pharmacological theories of Galen and of d’Al-Kindi: some areas of divergence (N. Stéphan, France), Ibn Biklârish: medical theories and synoptic sketches of "simples" (J. Ricordel, France), History of the separation of pharmacy from medicine among the Arabs (R. Jazi, Tunisia and A.K. Chehade, Syria).

On the theme of Public health the following were to be found on the program: An epidemic of pulmonary plague in Tunis (M. Huet, France), History of therapeutics against bilharzia (J.-J. Rousset et M.-A. Izri, France), Charles Nicolle’s Nobel Prize (M. Huet, France), Tunisia’s place in the life and work of Charles Nicolle (H. Essaddam, Tunisia), History of Tunisian ophthalmology (R. Mabrouk and S. Saada, Tunisia), Edward Chatton’s Tunisian research on parasites(J. Théoridès, France), Pain in Arabo-islamic medicine: elements for control (M. Aroua, Algeria), Physicians dealing with pain: an historical perspective (B. Brochet and V. Dousset, France), History of analgesics: about certain determinants, paradoxes and fortunate mistakes (P. Queneau, France) and Psychiatric care in Tunisia: from its origins until modern times (S. Ammar and S. Douki, Tunisia).

On the theme of Medical education the following were notable: 150 years of professorship in the history of medicine in Vienna: Glory and crime in medicine (K. Holubar, Austria), Humanism at the Faculty of medicine in Paris from 1795 to 1898 (A. Lellouch, France), The teaching of medical history in Tunisia: Monastir as example (A. Chadly) and Medical history and the medical student (J. Cule, UK).

On the theme of Medical ethics the following should be mentioned: The historical evolution of medical ethics (J.H. Pearns, Australia), Medical rights and medical ethics: evolution in history (A. Chadly, Tunisia) and also Medical ethics in Arabo-Islamic countries, yesterday and today (Z. Aissa and S. Ammar, Tunisia).

Finally, on the theme of Greco-Latin medicine, three presentations will be stressed: Greek language teaches medicine. (J. Avgoustis, Greece), The lost "Commentary on the Aphorisms of Hippocrates" written by Palladius is, at last, found in an Arabic translation (F.S. Haddad, USA) and Cos and Cnidos medical school and their methodological assessment (S. Pellin, Turkey) and, in the Varia, much appreciated was Old age in the "Essais" of Montaigne (Ph. Albou and A. Lellouch, France).

On Wednesday, the day traditionally reserved for an excursion, the participants had the choice of two possibilities:

One, a circuit around Tunis, allowing for a visit of Sidi Bou Saïd and the archaeological sites of Carthage (Antonin’s thermal baths, the archaeological museum), then for the discovery of Médina and its palaces, with a typical lunch in a central restaurant, followed by a visit to the souks and to the Grand Mosque. The afternoon ended with a visit to the famous Bardo Museum renowned for its collection of mosaics.

The other choice was an excursion towards the north western part of the country, allowing for the exploration of numerous Roman ruins in Thurburdo and in Majus, as well as the famous archaeological site of Dougga.

With regards to the opportunities for scientific, as well as cultural and tourist, site seeing offered by this congress, it should be noted that many excursions were proposed. Without doubt the most attractive was a five-day tour of Southern Tunisia, beginning with a visit to the island of Djerba and followed by a journey to the South as far as Doux, on the edge of the desert. Then a drive alongside the salt lake of Chott and Djerid, arrival at Tozeur and return towards the North, passing through Kairouan and Soussa, two well known cities, of which the first conserves many aspects of traditional Arab medicine.

Thursday and Friday witnessed the remaining sessions and the congress ended with the general assembly of the society and the closing banquet at the Hôtel Résidence at Gammarth, a very lively occasion that was embellished by Tunisian folkloric dancing.

The greatest credit must be given to Professor Sleïm Ammar who headed the organisation from the beginning, supervising the minutest details – with his usual dynamism and charisma – not sparing himself so as to make a complete success of this congress, which will imprint itself on the memory of all participants. This evocation ends with a reminder that the next reunion of the ISHM will take place in Texas, in the city of Galveston on the Gulf of Mexico, in September 2000.

Notes

During the last ten years ISHM congresses have been held in Bologna (1988), Antwerp (1990), Grenada (1992), Glasgow (1994), and Cos (1996).

Originally Africa was the name given to a Roman province, corresponding to modern Tunisia and Tripoli; later the name was applied to the whole continent.

The city was founded about 814 BC around the citadel of Byrsa, according to Virgil, by queen Didon who was the leader of the colons from Phoenicia. About 500 BC, Carthage established an economic empire that flourished in the Mediterranean region. During the third Punic war (149-146BC) the city was destroyed by Scipio the Younger. Rebuilt by Caesar on an adjoining site, the city became the intellectual and religious centre of Roman, then Christian, Africa. The city was founded about 814 BC around the citadel of Byrsa, according to Virgil, by queen Didon who was the leader of the colons from Phoenicia. About 500 BC, Carthage established an economic empire that flourished in the Mediterranean region. During the third Punic war (149-146BC) the city was destroyed by Scipio the Younger. Rebuilt by Caesar on an adjoining site, the city became the intellectual and religious centre of Roman, then Christian, Africa.

Mosaics are examples of the highest art form of the Roman period. The Bardo Museum in Tunis has an exceptional collection.

Normans. During the Carolingian period, this name was given to Scandinavian pirates who, under their chiefs, or Vikings, made numerous incursions into the European coastal territories during the ninth and tenth centuries, reaching even the Mediterranean area and penetrating into Sicily, Constantinople and North Africa.

Bourguiba Habib Ibn Ali, born in 1903. A Tunisian politician, he soon took an active part in the movement for independence. Chief of Neo-destour, after getting the Bey deposed he became in 1957 president of the Tunisian republic, which he led, thanks to wise government, to independence and modernity. Although named "president for life" in 1975, age and illness obliged him to resign in 1987. Today 95 years of age, he lives retired at Monastir, his birthplace.

Ammar, Sleïm, born in 1927, was not only a Tunisian physician but also a writer and poet. He studied medicine in Paris (1946-1954) and then specialised in psychiatry. An unusual personality and a dominant figure in Tunisian psychiatry for the last forty years, which he taught together with medical psychology at the University of Tunis, Sleïm Ammar is also known for his achievements in medical history. Vice-president of the ISHM, he is the author of about 300 publications, of which a large number are dedicated to Arab and Islamic medicine.

Professor Karl Holubar, director of the Medical History Institute in Vienna, describes in this paper the history of the chair in medical history at Vienna, from the time of Seligman (1808-1892), who was the first professor appointed in 1848. Professor Holubar then recalls the dramatic period that existed in Vienna after the takeover in 1938. This subject was the focus of a remarkable special publication of the Wiener klinische Wochenschrift (1998), 110th year, no. 4-5.

Chott and Djerid. This is the largest salt "lake" of the Sahara, covering nearly 6,000 square kilometres and edged on the west and the south by ergs (sand dunes).

Kairouan is a town in central Tunisia, ancient capital of the Aghlabidian dynasty constructed in the centre of a dusty, desert plain. An important Islamic holy city, it boasts numerous splendid mosques among which the Grand Mosque and the Mosque with Three Doors. Furthermore, the city was, and remains, an important centre of Arab culture and medicine.

Soussa is a Tunisian port south of the golf of Hammamet. An ancient Phoenician then Roman city, it was in mediaeval times an important commercial harbour. The capital of the Sahel, it is today the third largest city in Tunisia, after Tunis and Sfax.