Page:A History of Hindu Chemistry Vol 1.djvu/47

 alchimique, qui remonte aux anciens Egyptiens."—"Coll. des anciens alch. Grecs.," t. iii., trad. p. 307.

The period when the Susrura received its final cast must always remain an open question. Vágbhata in his Ashtáṅgahridaya makes copious extracts both from the Charaka and the Susruta. The latter must therefore have existed in their present form prior to the 9th century A. D. Mádhavakara in his Nidána quotes bodily from the Uttaratantra, and as the Nidána was one of the medical works which were translated for the Caliphs of Bagdad (see below), it can safely be placed in the 8th century at the latest. In is thus evident that the present redaction of the Susruta must have existed anterior to that date, and that it had become at that age, stereotyped as it were. The Vágbhata and the Nidána are simply summaries of the Charaka and Susruta,This statement we make in a qualified sense, and we fully agree with Roth when he observes "Udoy Chand Dutt in seiner Mat. Med. bezeichnet das Werk als eine methodische geordnete Compilation aus Charaka und Susruta. Ich glaube er thut ihm damit Unrecht: Vágbhata der sich übrigens mehr an and were written at a time when