an exhaustive one, nevertheless I have, at the risk of being tedious, endeavoured to include under some head or other most of the combinations which were pointed out to me by experienced native physicians, as generally used in practice.
In detailing the uses of particular combinations of medicines, Sanskrit writers are, sometimes, in the habit of indulging in exaggerated statements. Thus for example a medicine, which is really used in a special disease, say jaundice, is described in the chapter devoted to the treatment of this disease, but a host of other diseases may also be recited as cured by it. Native physicians who regard these writings as sacred, explain these irrelevant statements by saying that they are secondary uses. I have, for the most part, omitted them in my translations of the texts, hence their English renderings will sometimes appear deficient or incomplete.
The names of the works given below the Sanskrit texts merely shew that those texts are to be found in them, and not that they were originally composed by the authors or compilers of those books. The combinations or formulae generally used, are to be found in most compilations, and it is not always practicable to trace them to their original sources. In quoting these authorities I have, as a natural consequence of the principle upon which the prescriptions were selected, had to give preference to works that are used as text books by native physicians.
The number of Sanskrit medical works, and especially of small compilations on the treatment of diseases, is too numerous and indefinite to admit of detailed enumeration here. The enquirer after them is sure to find, in different parts of the country or seats of learning, many little manuals, essays and digests of which he did not hear before. It would seem that in the absence of printing, teachers of medicine used to prepare small compilations containing such prescriptions as they were in the habit of using, for the guidance of their pupils, who copied them for personal use. These manuals are often dubbed with fancy names, and have more or less circulation according to their merit or the extent of influence of their authors. There are
