A History of Hindu Chemistry, vol. 1

content myself with the pronouncement of my respected and learned friend, Mr. Brajendranātha Seal, Principal of Mahārājā’s College, Kuch Behar, whose vast acquaintance with and comprehensive grasp of the literature of the East and the West entitle him to speak with authority on the subject. Says Mr. Seal in his plea for our University, “striking out a line of communication with the organizations of oriental learning”:

“Let us not superciliously dismiss these studies as ‘learned lumber.’ The Astronomy and Mathematics were not less advanced than those of Tycho Brahe, Cardan, and Fermat; the anatomy was equal to that of Vesalius; the Hindu logic and methodology more advanced than that of Ramus, and equal on the whole to Bacon’s; the physico-chemical theories as to combustion, heat, and chemical affinity clearer, more rational, and more original than those of Van Helmont or Stahl; and the grammar, whether of Sanskrit or Prākrit, the most scientific and comprehensive in the world before Bopp, Rask, and Grimm.”

PRESIDENCY COLLEGE : P. C. RAY.
January 1, 1904.