. His
principal work was with regard to poisons and the symptoms caused by
them. This is often quoted by medical writers in the after time.

The prominent Jewish physician of the ninth century was Joshua Ben Nun.
Haroun al-Raschid, whose attempts to secure justice for his people are
the subject of so much legendary lore, and whose place in history may be
best recalled by the fact that he is a contemporary of Charlemagne, was
particularly interested in medicine. He founded the city of Tauris as a
memorial of the cure of his wife. He was a generous patron of the school
of Djondisabour and established a medical school also at Bagdad. He
provided good salaries for the professors, insisted on careful
examinations, and raised the standard of medical education for a time to
a noteworthy degree. The greatest teacher of this school at Bagdad was
Joshua Ben Nun, sometimes known as the Rabbi of Seleucia. His teaching
attracted many students to Bagdad and his fame as one of the great
practitioners of medicine of this time brought many patients. Among his
disciples was John Masuee, whose Arabian name is so different, Yahia Ben
Masoviah, that in order to avoid confusion in reading it is important to
know both. Almost better known, perhaps, at this time was Abu Joseph
Jacob Ben Isaac Kendi. Fortunately for the after time, these men devoted
themselves not only to their own observations and writings but made a
series of valuable translations. Joshua Ben Nun seems to have been
particularly zealous in this matter, following the example of Maser
Djawah of Basra.

Bagdad then became a centre for Arabian culture. Mahmoud, one of
Haroun's successors, provided in Bagdad a refuge for the learned men of
the East who were disturbed by the wars and troubles of the time. He
became a liberal patron of literature and education. When the Emperor
Michael III of Constantinople was conquered in battle, one of the
obligations imposed upon him was to send many camel loads of books to
Bagdad, and Aristotle and Plato were studied devotedly and translated
into Arabic. The era of culture affected not only the capital but all
the cities, and everywhere throughout the Arabian empire schools and
academies sprang up. We have records of them at Basra, Samarcand,
Ispahan. From here the thirst for education spread to the other cities
ruled by the Mohammedans, and each town became affected by it.
Alexandria, the cities of the Barbary States, those of Sicily and
Prov