De Gradibus
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De Gradibus was an Arabic book published by the Arab physician Al-Kindi (c. 801–873 CE). De gradibus is the Latinized name of the book. An alternative name for the book was Quia Primos.Plinio Prioreschi, "Al-Kindi, A Precursor Of The Scientific Revolution", Journal of the International Society for the History of Islamic Medicine, 2002 (2): 17-19 19.He describes there the original innovation of applying mathematics to pharmacology and specifically the quantification of the effect of drugs. For example, he developed a mathematical scale to quantify the strength of drugs. Al-Kindi was the first one who tried to use a serious quantification in medicine.P. Prioreschi. Al-Kindi, A Precursor of The Scientific RevolutionHe developed a mathematical scale to quantify the strength of a drug, and a system, based the phases of the Moon, that would allow a doctor to determine in advance the most critical days of a patient's illness. Klein-Franke, p172 During the Arabic-Latin translation movement of the 12th century, De Gradibus was translated into Latin by Gerard of Cremona. Due to the complex mathematical reasoning employed in the book, many early European physicians initially had difficulty in interpreting his quantification of drug strength, such as Roger Bacon who wrote the following commentary:Plinio Prioreschi, "Al-Kindi, A Precursor Of The Scientific Revolution", Journal of the International Society for the History of Islamic Medicine, 2002 (2): 17-19 18.
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