Rasa-Jala-Nidhi, vols. 2–5

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time out of memory. All that the ancient Hindus really cared for was knowledge without a scrupulous enquiry as to when and by whom a particular truth was discovered. There is another reason why I found the task of assigning sources of my information almost impossible. The existing books are so much wanting in method, so fragmentary, incomplete, and so full of mistakes made by generations of scribes that I had to correct the ancient texts to a great extent and to supply the missing links from the materials I collected from my preceptor who has got his own manuscript notes on the whole science, so much so that much of the language used in these volumes is my own composition, although the materials supplied are by no means of modern origin—they have been handed down to us by our remotest fore-fathers through generations of chemists most of whom have hitherto been ascetics retiring into the forests. It will be evident to a careful student of Hindu chemistry that the verses quoted in the texts and those composed by myself have been so intermingled with one another that it is practically impossible to give references to works laid under contribution, in every case. Such being the case, all that is possible for me is to furnish my readers with a list of books and manuscripts consulted, and this I propose to do after I have completed the compilation of all the volumes.

I consider it to be a pleasant duty to express my heart-felt gratitude to Sir Jagadish Chandra Bose, Sir Chiman Lal Setalvad, Vice Chancellor, Bombay University, Dr. Gerald Druce, author of “History of science”, Dr. Nagaoka of the Institute of Physical