A History of Hindu Chemistry, vol. 1

Middle Ages, dealing primarily with the Arabic and Syrian contributions to the subject—contributions of which I was not previously aware. After perusing these works, I became ambitious to supplement them with a study of Hindu chemistry. Although I have written throughout under the inspiration of a mastermind, I do not for a moment pretend that my humble production will come anywhere near the standard set before my eyes.

When I first outlined this work, I deluded myself with the hope of finishing a study of all available literature on the subject before I began writing. I soon discovered, however, that the task was of vast magnitude. Some of my friends, whose judgment is highly valued, advised me under these circumstances to curtail the scope of the work as originally planned and to present a first installment in its necessarily defective and imperfect form (see Introduction, p. lxxxiv), reserving for a subsequent volume the development of materials that continue to accumulate. In this present volume, only one or two representative works of the Tantric and Iatro-chemical Iatro-chemistry: a branch of chemistry concerned with the application of chemistry to medicine periods have been discussed at length.

Regarding transliteration, I have not strictly adhered to any particular system, but, in the