Page:A History of Hindu Chemistry Vol 1.djvu/123

 note appended to "Lepra Arabum," written in the early part of the last century thus expresses his views on the subject:—

"It is well known that the Eastern nations were the first who employed mercury in the cure of obstinate, cutaneous and leprous affections; and it may be questioned whether the natives of India were before the Arabian or only second in order in availing themselves of the virtues of that powerful mineral. Rhases, Mesu and Avicenna all notice it, and according to Fallopius, as we find observed by Le Clerc in his "Histoire de la Médicine" pp. 771-791, it was the opinions of those writers which first suggested its use in venereal diseases.