Global Research: 22-08-2024,
The 11th-century Persian polymath Ibn Sina, popularly known as Avicenna, reportedly conducted an experiment to illustrate how fear and prolonged anxiety can lead to impacts on mental and physical well-being and have significant negative effects on overall health.
As the story goes, Avicenna placed two healthy lambs in separate cages and erected a demarcation between them. He placed a wolf in a third cage, making the menacing-looking creature visible to only one of the lambs. The lambs were the same age and the same weight and were fed the same food. All their conditions were equal except for the visibility of the wolf to the lone lamb.
Avicenna then started feeding the two lambs. As time went by, the lamb who couldn’t see the wolf retained its health, put on weight, and remained vigorous. The lamb who saw the wolf became sedentary and thin and, after some months, died from the chronic stress of perceiving constant danger.
A recent social media essay resurrected the story of Avicenna’s demonstration. With that came the debate as to whether it was an actual experiment or merely an ancient anecdote.
🧵THREAD: Avicenna, a Persian scientist who lived over 1,000 years ago, conducted a remarkable experiment. He placed two healthy lambs in separate cages, but only one could see a wolf in a third cage nearby. The results of this experiment were nothing short of astounding.