Page:The Surgical Instruments of the Hindus Vol 1.djvu/15

Rh learn from the accounts of Houen Tsang and Fa Hian that charitable institutions such as hospitals, dispensaries and Pûnyasālās (Houses of Charity) were quite common in ancient India. Arrian informs us in his Indica that the study of medicine among the Brahmans was in great favour. We know that the standard works on medicine were translated in Arabic in the 8th Century B. C., and that various medicinal herbs of Indian origin found their way into the Greek Materia Medica.

Eighthly, we must enquire whether the medical practice of ancient times is still resorted to by the physicians of the present days. The Hindu system of medicine is still being practised all over India, more or less in its original form, and so can still be studied at first hand. But for our present purpose, we derive little or no help from the Vaids of the present generation. They know practically nothing about anatomy and surgery which began to decline during the Buddhist era, and finally all vestiges of the science became lost during the Mahomedan rule. I have spared no pains to exhaust these sources of information so far as surgical instruments are concerned. Whether or not I have been fortunate enough to give just the necessary details of instruments from the best accessible authorities without at the same time loading my pages with superflous [sic] matter, must be left to the judgment of my readers to determine.