A History of Hindu Chemistry, vol. 2

however difficult it may be due to its technical character, is exceedingly precise, consistent, and expressive. The materials are also plentiful, and the sources of information corroborate one another. Another difficulty I have sought to guard against is the unscientific, unhistorical, but very common and almost inevitable habit of reading modern ideas into old guesses or speculations that are of a haphazard or vague character. I do not believe that a mere passion for truth is a sufficient safeguard against this fatal tendency toward unconscious distortion or misrepresentation. A true historical perspective can only be acquired through historico-comparative studies, using the correct historico-comparative method (see the Introduction to my Comparative Studies in Vaishnavism and Christianity). I have also practiced, or tried to practice, a habitual understatement, without consciously falling into that 'suppressio veri' original: "suppression of the truth" which is so often a 'suggestio falsi' original: "suggestion of the false". How far I have succeeded in exhibiting the truth about Hindu science or the Hindu scientific mind is a question I leave for competent judges to answer.

Before concluding, I must mention my use of the terms "isomeric" and "polymeric" in senses different from the current scientific definitions, though they are suggested by the principle of analogous extension. Instead of coining new terms, I have adopted (perhaps with a questionable degree of freedom) these existing ones to ex-