Avicenna was a Persian renaissance man who produced an extraordinary number of written works in his time. Of his nearly 450 written works, on subjects as varied as astronomy, philosophy, and theology, he is most famous for The Book of Healing and The Canon of Medicine, the latter serving as a medical text in universities around the world for centuries.

Growing up, Avicenna was a student of many disciplines, including theology and metaphysics, until age 16, when he focused on medicine. Within two years, he became a fully qualified physician and began treating patients, often without asking for any money.

His fame as a medical practitioner grew until he was appointed as the personal physician to the Emir. His status as the Emir's physician granted Avicenna access to the royal library of the Samanids. At the end of the Samanid dynasty, Avicenna travelled from place to place, until finally ending up in Hyrcania, where he began his work on The Canon of Medicine.

Borrowing from early Greek thinkers, such as Aristotle and Hippocrates, and Persian thinkers, such as Rhazes, Avicenna applied his experience in the field of logic to the methods set forth by his predecessors.

As a result, the 14-volume Canon of Medicine became a highly influential text in the fields of both medicine and philosophy. It outlined the major classes and the assumed causes of disease, as well as provided directions on how to test new medicines. The Canon also stressed the importance of physical exercise and included preparations for remedies using medicinal herbs.

Avicenna's life and philosophy was truly influential. He influenced his contemporaries, future thinkers in the Medieval Age (and later), and of course, us! He exhibited many of the same virtues that are embodied by our company's own philosophy, particularly generosity, expertise, and ethics. But most importantly, his emphasis on wellness through exercise and naturally derived preparations coincides with the basic mission and values of our company. The quote below, from Avicenna's most famous text, perfectly encapsulates our central, guiding principle:

"Nature will bring about the cure or it will itself reveal clearly what the malady really is."
--- Avicenna
'General Therapeutics' in The Canon of Medicine, adapted by L. Bakhtiar (1999), pg. 468.