History of Chemistry in Ancient and Medieval India, Incorporating the History of Hindu Chemistry by Acharya Prafulla Chandra Ray c16.s1.1

c16.s1.1

We now come upon a period which represents a transition in the progress of Hindu medicine so far as the nature and composition of substances used as drugs are concerned. Hitherto herbs and vegetable matters were largely employed as drugs with a few simple and readily available products of the mineral kingdom. From about the beginning of this period and even since the days of Vagbhata we find an increasing use of metallic preparations From the tenth century and downwards every medical work is found more or less recommending compounds of metals which can only be synthetically prepared.