Page:A History of Hindu Chemistry Vol 1.djvu/108



During the Tantric period, with its system of the "Philosophy of Mercury" a vast mass of chemical information was accumulated, which was pressed into signal service in the period immidiately succeeding it—the Iatro-chemical Period of India. The prominent feature of the former lies in the search after the elixir vitae and the powder of projection as the contents of the Rasaratnákara and Rasárnava amply testify; whereas in the latter these phantastic and extravagant ideas, impossible of realisation, had subsided into something more practical and tangible. The numerous preparations of mercury, iron, copper and other metals, although they could not secure immortality or revive the dead, were found to be helpful accessories in medicine. At first they came