Hindu Achievements in Exact Science: A Study in the History of Scientific Development c22.s1.3

c22.s1.3

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).