History of Chemistry in Ancient and Medieval India, Incorporating the History of Hindu Chemistry by Acharya Prafulla Chandra Ray c4.1

c4.1

History does not, as generally represented, consist merely in the shifting of geographical boundaries of countries and dominions, in the changes of their names, in the military exploits of royalties and nations, or even in the undulations and migrations of greater and lesser waves of populations. These are but the casual and external changes, and may be viewed upon as the symptoms of the great mental vicissitudes of the human race. In the opinion of many eminent thinkers, individual fortunes or individual events, by themselves, are not of real importance in history, though they may be highly sensational or of great political and economic significance for the time being and occupy the headlines of newspapers. History, from a philosophical point of view, represents, in fact, a long range process involving very long durations and very large numbers. Individual persons or events are important in history to the extent they serve as symptoms of this long range process and as means to the realization of this process. For, individuals have their rise and decay, while history is a continuous process and knows no end. The real history of mankind is, therefore, constituted by the thoughts of the past; the leading conceptions of all remarkable forms of civilization; the achievements of genius, of virtue and of high faith. In short, it is the record of the past experience of humanity and of the evolution of the human mind with its ideas and sentiments, its truths and toils, its virtues and guilt. The scientific and cultural achievements of mankind, representing the progress of civilization, therefore, supply the materials for real history. In fact, history becomes utterly incomplete, if it fails to narrate the progress and development of science which has led to the modern civilization with its remarkable achievements. If there be any unfailing criterion for the growth of civilization or the evolution of human mind, it lies in the progressive unification of the world to which science has undeniably made the greatest contribution, inspite of the two frightful international conflicts on a global scale and a more intensive preparation for the third, aided by catastrophic atomic weapons derived from the pursuit of science itself. History of science, therefore, constitutes an integral part of the history of human civilization or of the true human annals of the earth; and as knowledge and wisdom grow only on the accumulated experiences of the past, it forms an essential element in the study of science itself.