Hindu Achievements in Exact Science: A Study in the History of Scientific Development c18.14

c18.14

(1) Hippocrates (450 B.C.), the "father of medicine," was familiar with Hindu drugs. Thus he mentions pepper, cardamon, ginger, cinnamon, cassia, etc. Theophrastus (350 B.C.) mentions ficus indica and others among medicinal plants. Dioscorides (first century A.D.), the most celebrated compiler of Greek materia medica, mentions valeriana hardwickii, calamus aromaticus, etc. Ætius (fifth century) mentions collyrium indiarum, santalum, and other characteristic Hindu medicaments. Similarly Paulus Ægineta (seventh century) prescribes the internal use of steel, cloves, rhubarb, trypherum, etc. Pliny, the Roman contemporary of Dioscorides, had also mentioned Indian medicinal plants and drugs.