Using Mirror, a kind of Treatment for the Bell palsy in the History

Document Type : Original Article

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Abstract

Since the time man observed his picture in the water, mirror has en-tered both man’s spiritual and material life. The role of mirror has un-dergone a lot of changes, ranging from foretelling to its use by barbers in different situations, to its use as warfare, mystic allegories, literal metaphors and historical narrations such as Alexander Mirror located in Alexandria. The present study aims to investigate the application of mirror in medicine in the past. Based on authentic traditional medical texts such as the Canon of Medicine (Avicenna) and Zakhireh (Trea-sure of )Kharazmshahi, a specific kind of mirror, called copper mirror or china (Chinese) mirror,  was used to cure Bell palsy. In this article, we have investigated this specific type of therapy and have shown that china (Chinese) mirror, which has been referred to in some newer texts for the treatment of Bell palsy and some think it is made in China or maybe made of china, is, in fact, the very copper mirror mentioned in the older texs.

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