Materia medica of Hindoostan, and artisan's and agriculturalist's nomenclature / by Whitelaw Ainslie.

  • Whitelaw Ainslie
Date:
1813
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Materia medica of Hindoostan, and artisan's and agriculturalist's nomenclature / by Whitelaw Ainslie. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by Royal College of Physicians, London. The original may be consulted at Royal College of Physicians, London.

    79/376 (page 61)
    Cat. I] MATERIA MEDICA OF HINDOOSTAN' SI SECTION iir. CONTAINING MEDICINES OF THE TAMOOL MATERIA MEDICA, MANY OF M HK H ARE IN l OMMON USE AMONGST 'J H E J ELINGASAND MAHOMETANS, »^U1 FEW OF THEM HAVE BEEN HITHERTO MUCH ENQUIRED AFTER BY EUROPEAN PRACTITIONEHS. IN THE GENERAL INDEX, AT THE END OF THE VOLUME, THE ENGLISH NAME-) ARE FIRST IN OHDER; BUT IN THIS SECTION, THE ARTiCLES ARE ARRANGED ALPHABETICALLY IN THE ENGLISH CHAKACJER, ACCORDING TO THEIR TAMOOL OR TELINGOO TEUMS. THE SANSCRIT (Gi6iidutn) NAMES OF THE PLANTS, &c. are given on the AUIHOKITY OF THE MOST LEARNED HINDOOSOFTHE SOUTHEiiN PROVINCES, AND ARE SUBJOINED 'iO THE BOTANICAL APPELLATIONS. PROCEMIUM. IT ia much to he lamented that It was ever thought necessary to include the sciences amongst tliose subjects which are treated of in the sacred books of the Hindoos : a circumstance which has been an insurmountable obstacle to improvement, and is, no doubt, the great cause why Medicine, in this part of the world, is still sunk in a state of empirical daikness. T he L’pave'da, which contains the theory of diseases and their remedies, is the first in order of the four that have l)een deduced from the immortal P^e'das •. it is terrae^l the ^tjurvedn, and is said to have been originally delivered to mankind hy lirnhjti'i, Indrdh Darwdnliie, and five other deities. It is universally allowed that but few copies of it are extant ; indeed, we are informed by Sir William Jones, that this medical Sastra (1.) has been almost entirely lost during the long lapse of ages; hut that he had met with a curious fragment of it, in which he was surprised to find an account of the internal structure of the human frame : but, whatever may have been done in this way in former times, it is to be regretted that the custom of examining the dead subject, does not now exist amongst the Hindoos : so that all the knowledge they have of Anatomy, can be little else than a conjecture, formed from what they may have seen on lookiug into the bodies of the brute creation. The Vyiiaiis, being are not permitted to peruse the sacred writings, which are guarded with religious awe by the Subtree Brahmins ; out they have free access to many valuable |)iofessional tracts, which corresjrond with, and are, in fact, commentaries on them. T hese are said to have been com])Osed by Prophet* and Holy men {Mdghd Bceshet) of antiquity, (2 ) to whom is generally given a divine origin ; auch as ^ghascier mentioned in the Preface, aiidin the 2d part of the Appendix. The (1 ) This is afso called Sha-sier, and in some parts of India Sastmm- , t‘2 ) 'This is no place to enter minutely into the discussion, which has to long en* gaged the attention of mankind, regarding the claims of priority of Hindoostun over other countties, witn respect to the cuUtvuthn of learning. Much has keen said on tiiher