Page:A History of Hindu Chemistry Vol 1.djvu/51

 shall see later on that this is precisely the period which marks the decadence of the Hindu intellect in the field of medicine and mathematics. We should not have thought it necessary to discuss seriously the various arguments which Haas adduces in support of his views, some of which Dr. Hoernle curtly disposes of as "an elaborate joke," were it not for the fact that this German critic represents a school which cannot or will not see anything in India, which can claim originality or antiquity. In his blind zeal to support this theory, Haas has been led into the most egregious blunders. He comes to the strange conclusion that the works of Vágbhata, Mádhava and Sárṅgadhara and others supply the germs, out of which the Charaka and Susruta have been elaborated, forgetting or ignoring that the former repeatedly and gratefully acknowledge their indebtedness to the latter.