Charaka-Samhita — trans. Kaviraj Avinash Chandra Kaviratna

Professor of Medicine,’ Sir Henry Edward, is much interested in it.” Dr. Reinhold Rost, late Librarian of the India Office, said, — “ a most valuable and praiseworthy work which will not fail to make ancient Hindu Medicine better understood and appreciated in the West.” Dr. Austin Flint of New York, U. S. A., said, — “ It cannot fail to be of great interest to the Medical profes¬ sion which will be under great obligations to you.” Mons. A. Barth, the celebrated scholar of Paris, says, “ Your efforts to place within reach of the readers of ancient literature a work of so interesting a nature both to the Oriental Scholars and to men of medicine, are very praiseworthy.” Mons. Berthelemy St. Hilaire, the translator of Aristotle and editor of the Journal des Savants, says, — “ The Work is of interest to all learned men and to medical men.” The late Director of Public Instruction, Bengal, Sir Alfred Croft, says, — “ I have been greatly entertained as well as edified by the exa¬ mination in Part IV. of all the things which a man shall not do.” Professor James W. Reese, of Westminster, Maryland, says, — “You have undertaken a great and difficult work, and one which, it seems to me, deserves the approbation and encouragement of all who care to know what wise men of the past ages thought and taught on a topic so important as the preservation of health and the cure of disease.” Dr. A. Mitter of Cashmere, says, — “ a work of practical and philosophical medicine. No medical man’s education can be complete unless he studies it.” Dr. H. N. Whelpley, St. Louis, Editor of an important Medical Journal, says, — “ The work is cer¬ tainly highly scientific and as well of general interest.” Dr Paul Burtholm, M.D., of Philadelphia, says, — “ I have been exceedingly struck with the profound meaning of many passages which, indeed, go beyond anything that I have ever met before in medical litera¬ ture and find their parallel only in Lord^Bacon’s reflections.” George H. Clark, M. A., M. D., Philadelphia, says, — “ As I go over each fasciculus I always arrive at one conclusion and that is this : If the physicians of the present day would drop from the Pharmacopia all the modern drugs and chemicals, and treat their patients ac¬ cording to the method of Charaka, there would be less work on the undertakers, and fewer chronic invalids in the world.” Mr. F. H. Skrine, of the Indian Civil Service, says,— “ I have read Charaka with interest. • It .is marvellously like Hyppocrates’ maxims in

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spirit and form.' It is wonderful to note the comparatively acb vanced views held by the sages of your country and how complete-, ly they had anticipated discoveries which we moderns flatter our¬ selves are due to the enlightenment of this age.” The Indian Medical Review of November, 1893, says, — “ The book is of pro¬ found interest, and will be read by modern physicians with some profit.” The Satellite , of - New York, observes, — “ It is a very valu able work.” Science , an influential Journal of U. S. A., says, — " The physician . of .our day will find in Charaka and other works of an¬ cient India many views of health, disease, and remedies which he fondly imagined were jewels in the crown of Modern Science.” Again, in a subsequent number, — “This great monument of ancient Hindu wisdom and learning.” “The student of Hindu literature must be prepared for glimpses and magnificient views of learning and wisdom which will astonish and delight him at every turn.” Meyer Brothers' Druggist , of St. Louis, U. S. A., a Journal of repu¬ tation, says, — “We are surprised to find that much we now consider new was well known to the physicians who administered to the ancient citizens of India.”

Such, the speaker said, is the work of Charaka, the Xarach of the Arabians, who translated him in, as is believed, the seventh century after Christ. It is a matter of great regret that few edu¬ cated persons in India know anything of Charaka’s great work. Most people think that it teems with technicalities about disease and medicaments, and that, therefore, it should be studied by those only whose profession is the study and cure of disease. The truth is, there is much in Charaka that is addressed to laymen as well. No scheme of liberal education in India can be complete that does not embrace a study of at least those portions of Charaka which bear only on the general principles of hygiene and on those truths about disease and its causes which are incapable of being modified by time. So simple are the rules of conduct laid down by Charaka, and withal, so practicable, that there is no difficulty in following them. The speaker said that anybody who lived according to those rules might expect to live a hundred years without ever catching any disease. Such being the case, it is desirabe to take up the study of Charaka and Susruta and similar other works. An asso¬ ciation has been formed, called the “ Ayurvedic Institute” with the object of promoting that study. Although the establishment of a large college for the teaching of Charaka, Susruta and other works and of a hospital where patients might be treated according to

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