Page:A Short History of Aryan Medical Science.djvu/13



The literature of is so vast and copious that it is impossible to do adequate justice to its history within the compass of a small manual. The science is acknowledged on all hands to be of great antiquity, and contains a mine of information not to be altogether despised by the students of medicine of our day. Should it be approached in a spirit of fairness and inquiry, possibly it might disclose the germs of not a few of the marvellous discoveries in the realm of Medicine of which the present century is justly proud, and afford a diligent scholar ample scope and materials for comparison between the old and the new systems, with a view to supply the deficiencies of the one or the other for the benefit of mankind. An elaborate and complete history of Hindoo Medical Science is a great desideratum. If this humble attempt, however imperfect and fragmentary, should induce any of my readers to set himself seriously to the task of compiling from original sources a more readable and comprehensive history, I shall consider my labour to have been well spent. B. S. J., 1895.