In the late eighth century, the Indian physician Manka traveled to Baghdad to treat Caliph Hārūn al-Rashīd. Near Baghdad, Manka came across a peddler selling drugs:
He {Manka} asked him about one of the drugs, and received the answer that it was for the fever that recurs every second day, for the fever which recurs every fourth day, for backache, knee-ache, hemorrhoids, gas pains, aching joints, eye irritation, stomachache, headache, migraine, for distilling urine, and for ague — indeed, he did not omit a single malady for which he did not prescribe this drug.
Difficulties in product evaluation plagued medical practice in the ancient world, just as they do in our current world. Manka highlighted informational weaknesses in the ancient Arabic medical market and suggested a utilitarian regulatory approach:
the King of the Arabs is an ignorant man. If what this fellow says is true, why did the Caliph have to bring me from my country, estrange me from my people, and bear the expense of lodging and feeding me, while he could have found what he needed here under his very nose! And if it is not true, why does he not have him killed? The law endorses the killing of his like, because if he were put to death, it would be only one soul lost but many saved, whereas if he were left alive, his ignorance would kill a man a day — quite probably two, three, or four a day. This is a sin against religion and an evil committed against the kingdom.[*]
Killing a human being generally requires serious, specific justification. Killing the drug peddler isn’t the only conceivable way to stop him from selling nostrums. This story about Manka, which is probably a fable, puts that killing into an abstract framework of utilitarian regulation.
* * * * *
Read more:
Note:
[*] HP p. 603 (both quotes above).
Reference:
HP: Ibn Abi Usaybi’ah, Ahmad ibn al-Qasim. English translation of History of Physicians (4 v.) Translated by Lothar Kopf. 1971. Located in: Modern Manuscripts Collection, History of Medicine Division, National Library of Medicine, Bethesda, MD; MS C 294. Online transcription.