Page:A History of Hindu Chemistry Vol 1.djvu/78

 answered, 'are well aware of the use of money, but the rich are ignorant of the nobility of science.' On the other hand, ignorant people are not to be praised, although they behave quite quietly, simply because they abstain from alchemy, for their motives are objectionable ones, rather practical result of innate ignorance and stupidity than anything else.

"The adepts in this art try to keep it concealed, and shrink back from intercourse with those who do not belong to them. Therefore, I have not been able to learn from the Hindus which methods they follow in this science and what element they principally use, whether a mineral or an animal or a vegetable one. I only heard them speaking of the process of sublimation, of calcination, of analysis, and of the waxing of talc, which they call in their language "tālaka," and so I guess that they incline towards the minerological method of alchemy.

"They have a science similar to alchemy which is quite peculiar to them. They call it Rasāyana, a word composed with rasa i.e. gold. It means an art which is restricted to certain operations, drugs, and compound medicines, most of which