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Hindu Achievements in Exact Science: A Study in the History of Scientific Development c22: XVI. Natural History

Hindu Achievements in Exact Science: A Study in the History of Scientific Development c22

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English

Contents

XVI. Natural History

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MINERALS, plants, and animals were objects of study among the ancients and mediævals in India as in Europe. But nothing approaching the "sciences" of mineralogy, botany, and zoology was achieved anywhere.

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The discovery of the microscope in 1683 is the real beginning of the study of plant and animal anatomies and of the internal structure of minerals. The birth of modern chemistry in the work of Priestley and Lavoisier at the end of the eighteenth century started the physiology of plants and animals as well as the determination of the composition and constitution of minerals. In 1809 exact measurements of crystalline forms of many minerals were made. The perfection of the microscope in 1867 has given a great impetus to all these sciences during the last half-century.¹³

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All previous studies in minerals had been under the thraldom of alchemy. The researchers were swayed by mythological and metaphysical notions.³⁶ Roger Bacon believed that the "philosopher's stone" was able to transform a million times its weight of base metal into gold. It was no unusual assertion that the fortunate possessors of the "elixir of life" had been able to prolong their lives to 400 years and more.³¹ Even Libavius (1616), who combated the excesses of Paracelsus and the employment of "secret remedies," believed in the transmutation of metals and the efficacy of potable gold.⁴⁴

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Studies in plant life from Theophrastus (370–286 B.C.), the "father of botany," down to the revival of learning in the sixteenth century were mere observations in agriculture, horticulture, forestry, pharmacy, etc.²⁰ The investigations regarding animals also did not go beyond the stage of "bionomics," *i.e.*, the lore of the farmer, gardener, sportsman, and field-naturalist, including thremmatology or the science of breeding.⁴⁵

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In this "pre-scientific" mineralogy, botany, and zoology the Hindu students of natural history also played a part. Considerable power of observation was exhibited, as well as remarkable precision in description, and suggestiveness in expression. Their nature study was oriented to the practical needs of socio-economic life. It was minute and comprehensive, and so far as it went, avoided the fallacies of mal-observation and non-observation. Whatever be the value of the results achieved, the investigation was carried on in a genuine "scientific spirit."

(a) Minerals

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The principal metals and gems were discovered, described, and utilized by the Hindus independently of any foreign help. In fact, in this branch of knowledge as in many others the people of India were the pioneers.

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Mining has been in operation in India since the earliest times. The use of gems and precious stones as well as their identification,⁵⁰ also, have a long history among the Hindus.

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1. The Hindus were the first to discover gold (Roscoe and Schorlemner).⁵⁵
2. The Hindus taught the world the art of extracting iron from the ores (Roscoe and Schorlemner).⁵⁵
3. Even in the Mosaic period (1491-50 B.C.) precious stones and gems were in use in India. (Ball).⁵⁵
4. Homer mentions tin probably by its Sanskrit name *kastira*. (Birdwood.)⁵⁵
5. The Hindus supplied gold to the Persian Empire in the fifth century B.C.; and the story of Indian "gold-digging ants" (miners) is famous in Greek literature through Herodotus and others.
6. At first the Hindus knew six metals; gold, silver, copper, iron, tin, and lead. They discovered zinc, the seventh metal, sometime during the fourteenth century. (It is mentioned by name as a separate metal in "Madanapala-nighantu," 1374). In Europe it was discovered by Paracelsus in 1540.
7. The Hindu "doctrine of seven metals" was not, like the Greek and Saracen, influenced by the doctrine of the mystic influence of the seven planets.⁴⁴ 8. Examination of the genuineness of gems was an art even in the first century B.C. (cf. "The Troy Cart," a drama by Shoodraka).

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9. There have been different methods of enumeration and classification of the precious gems in different periods. The last important phase is embodied in the "doctrine of nine gems." These are ruby, pearl, coral, emerald, topaz, diamond, sapphire, gomeda (agate or zircon), and vaidurya (chrysoberyl, or lapis lazuli). This doctrine was enunciated probably in the tenth century by the astronomer Shreepati.⁴⁹

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10. The nine gems are believed to have a mystic connection with nine planets. Shreepati was the first to add Rahoo (personification of the ascending node of the moon) and Ketoo (moon's descending node) to the list of the generally recognized seven planets.⁴⁹

(b) Plants

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Scientific observation was applied to the phenomena of the vegetable kingdom. The body of knowledge arrived at through the colligation of facts consisted, however, in mere guesses or hints of truth.

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The following ideas of rudimentary plant-physiology have been credited to the experience of the "rhizotomi," pharmocologists, plant-physicians (*Briksa-yurvedists*) and horticulturists of ancient and mediæval India by Bhimchandra Chatterji:

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1. Sexuality: Flowers are the organs of plants.
2. Phosphorescence, and exudation of water.
3. Photo-synthesis: The sun is the source of energy in the fuel; (*i*) plants assimilate potential energy from the sun, (*ii*) the less refractive rays (red, yellow, and orange) of the setting sun are specially adapted to assimilation by plants.

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4. Plants are living organisms: They have among others the following phenomena of life: (*a*) sap-circulation, (*b*) power of movement, heliotropic, nyctitropic and other movements, sensitiveness to touch ("bashfulness") etc., (*c*) growth and reproduction.

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Characteristics of plant life as known to the Doctors of Nyaya (logic) are thus given by Seal:

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(1) Udayana (*c* A.D. 975) notices in plants the phenomena of life, death, sleep, waking, disease, drugging, transmission of specific characters by means of ova, movement towards what is favorable and away from what is unfavorable.
(2) Gunaratna (*c* A.D. 1350) enumerates the following: (*i*) stages of infancy, youth and age; (*ii*) regular growth; (*iii*) various kinds of movement or action connected with sleep, waking, expansion and contraction in response to touch; also movement towards a support or prop; (*iv*) withering on wound or laceration of organs; (*v*) assimilation of food according to the nature of the soil; (*vi*) growth or decay by assimilation of suitable or unsuitable food as prescribed in the science of the diseases of plants and their treatment (*Briksayurveda*); (*vii*) disease; (*viii*) recovery from diseases or wounds by the application of drugs; (*ix*) dryness, or the opposite, due to the sap which answers to the chyle (*rasa*) in animals; and (*x*) special food favorable to impregnation.

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Various classifications of plants (into groups with subdivisions) were attempted. These were, like the system of Jussieus, mostly based on properties.⁵⁴ They were mainly useful hints for practical men interested in economic botany. Identification was thus rendered easier than in the system of the early European botanists, which, according to Sachs, was too vague and insufficient for the purpose.

(c) Animals

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Animals have had an important place in the medicine, dietetics, economic life, fine arts and religion of the Hindus. The people have thus had experience of the life-habits, habitats, external characteristics, etc., of animals, both domestic and wild. This accounts for their intimate familiarity with the topics generally treated of in descriptive zoology.

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1\. Like the science of the diseases of plants, veterinary science also is very old in India. The Hindus had hospitals for animals in the third century B.C.

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2\. The Hindus could set fractures and dislocations in animals. They were perfectly acquainted with the anatomy of the goat, sheep, horse, and other animals used in sacrifices.¹⁹

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3\. They were specialists in the science of horses and elephants, the two animals important in warfare. Shalihotra is the founder of the science of horses, and Palakapya of the science of elephants. There is a vast literature on the subject.

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4\. Equine dentistry: The changes in the development and color of the six incisors of the lower jaw constituted, in Hindu practice, the guide to the age of the horse. This is modern European practice also.

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5. Snake-poison has been used as an article in Occidental materia medica during the last two or three decades. But it has been a recognized drug in India since early times.

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6. The toxicologists of the Sushruta school of medicine devoted special attention to the study of snakes. That study was followed up in some of the “Purana” schools.

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(*a*) Five different genera or families are described by Sushruta-Nagarjuna. Of these one is non-venomous, and the others are venomous. One of the venomous families is hybrid. The varieties of each are mentioned, as well as their longevity and other characteristics.

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(*b*) The “Bhavisya Purana” records that the snakes (*Naiæ*) copulate in May or June, gestate during the rainy months that follow, and bring forth about 240 eggs in November. Most of these are devoured by the parents, but those that are left break forth from the shell in about two months. By the seventh day the young snakes turn dark; in a fortnight (or twenty days, according to another account) the teeth come out. The poison is formed in the fangs in three weeks, and becomes deadly in the twenty-fifth night. In six months the snakes shed the skin. The joints on the skin (scales or scutes) are 240 in number (perhaps the sub-caudals were not counted).⁵⁹ 7. Various systems of classification were built up: (1) according to the nature of generation, e.g., from placentalia, or egg, etc. (in the writings of the schools of medicine); (2) according to the habitat and mode of life, and usefulness to man; (3) according to the number of senses possessed by animals. (This was the system of Umasvati, *A.D.* 40).⁵⁹

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8. The Sushruta-school names (1) six varieties of ants, (2) six varieties of flies, (3) five varieties of mosquitoes (including one marine and one mountain kind), (4) eight varieties of centipedes, (5) thirty varieties of scorpions, (6) sixteen varieties of spiders.⁵⁹

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9. Leeches have been used by Hindu surgeons since very early times. Sushruta gives a detailed account of their varieties, habits, mode of application, etc. There are twelve varieties of leeches, six of which are venomous and six useful. The venomous are found near putrid fish or animals in foul water. The good are found in clear deep pools which contain water-lilies.¹¹

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10. Ladyayana is quoted by Dalvana, the commentator to Sushruta, as a great authority on insects and reptiles. According to this ancient specialist, the various forms of insects are to be distinguished from one another by the following marks: (1) Dottings, (2) wings, (3) pedal appendages, (4) mouth, with antennæ or nippers, (5) claws, (6) sharp, pointed hairs or filaments, (7) stings in the tail, (8) hymenopterous character, (9) humming or other noise, (10)

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size, (11) structure of the body, (12) sexual organs (13) poison and its action on bodies.⁵⁹

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11. Dalvana's descriptions of deer and birds are precise and complete.

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The zoological lore of the Hindus is thus in all respects a good document of their general scientific interest in the facts and phenomena of the objective world. And some of their classifications were not less remarkable than those of Aristotle.²⁶

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