The Materia Medica of the Hindus, compiled from Sanskrit Medical Works c3.27

c3.27

The progress of chemistry or rather of the art of calcining, subliming and of otherwise preparing mineral substances for medical use, was comparitively slow in the early ages. Susruta used the natural salts, such as chloride of sodium, impure carbonates of potash and soda, borax, etc.; he employed iron in anæmia, and briefly referred to the supposed properties of silver, copper, tin, lead and the precious stones, but he gave no detailed instructions regarding their calcination, preparation or administration in special diseases. Chakradatta gives some processes for reducing to powder iron, copper and talc, and a few prescriptions containing these remedies. The oldest work containing a detailed account of the calcination or preparation of the different metals (such as gold, silver, iron, mercury, copper, tin and lead), for internal use, with formulæ for their administration, is I believe a concise treatise on medicinal preparations by Sárangadhara. Opium and pellitory root are mentioned in this work, hence it must have been compiled during the Mussulman period. Since then a host of works on metallic preparations and combinations have been prepared both in Bengal and the North-West Provinces, and mineral medicines have been largely adopted in the treatment of diseases. The more important parts of the information contained in these works are embodied in the Bhávaprakása and the two works on inorganic medicines generally used in Bengal, namely, Rasendra-chintámani and Rasendra-sárasangraha. As observed on page 54, most of the mineral medicinal preparations of the Hindus consist of their few metallic remedies combined or mixed together in an endless variety of forms. Nevertheless we cannot help admiring the ingenuity and boldness of the Hindu physicians, when we find that they were freely and properly using such powerful drugs as arsenic, mercury, iron, etc., while the Mussulman Hakims around them, with imperial patronage and the boasted learning of the west, recording such remarks regarding them as the following :—