A History of Hindu Chemistry from the Earliest Times to the Middle of the Sixteenth Century A.D. v1.c9.s3.18

v1.c9.s3.18

In the present volume we shall seldom have occasion to go beyond the 14th century A. D. It will, perhaps, add to the interest of the subject, if we turn our eyes for a moment to the progress of chemical knowledge in Europe at that time, and the alchemistic ideas and beliefs dominating it. Contemporary with the authors of Rasārnava and Rasartnasamuchchaya, were Roger Bacon (d. 1294), Alertus Maguns, Raymond Lully, and Arnaldus Villanovanus. Roger Bacon does not hesitate to assert that the philosopher's stone was able to transform a million times its weight of base metal into gold. The above-named alchemists are also unanimous in regarding it as a universal medicine, and "it was no unusual assertion that adepts, the fortunate possessors of the panacea, had been able to prolong their lives to 400 years and more."—Meyer. The readers of Rasārnava and the other Tantras will not fail to find that there is much in common between the Hindu alchemists and their European confrères.