The Materia Medica of the Hindus, compiled from Sanskrit Medical Works c3.6

c3.6

In detailing the uses of particular combinations of medicines, Sanskrit writers are, sometimes, in the habit of indulging in exaggerated statements. Thus for example a medicine, which is really used in a special disease, say jaundice, is described in the chapter devoted to the treatment of this disease, but a host of other diseases may also be recited as cured by it. Native physicians who regard these writings as sacred, explain these irrelevant statements by saying that they are secondary uses. I have, for the most part, omitted them in my translations of the texts, hence their English renderings will sometimes appear deficient or incomplete.