Charaka-Samhita — trans. Kaviraj Avinash Chandra Kaviratna

employed in teaching students or practicing their system, Hindu physicians have moved too much in a groove. The vigorous intellect of the West, by taking up those hints, may produce results of the utmost importance to Science and the sacred cause of alleviating misery.” We bespeak for him the' deep appreciation and en¬ couragement he trulydeserves.

C. E. Sajous.

(The Apothecary, Chicago , December , 1892.)

Charaka Samhita. — India has a voluminous medical literature. One of the most ancient and best known and studied of the Hindu works on medicine is “Charaka Samhita,” which cannot be less than a thousand years old, and is believed to be much older. Charaka was a Hindu sage, and his work — Charaka-Samhita — is based upon a treatise of a pupil of Punarvasu, of the race of Atri. The Vedas frequently mention the names of Atri and Punarvasu. The Ayurveda (Science of Life) was obtained by Bharadwaja from Indra, “ the chief of the Celestials.” Punarvasu got it from Bharadwaja and communicated it to his pupils, one of whom was Agniveca, who wrote the treatise (based upon the Ayurveda) which Charaka edited and corrected, and which is known by the title of Charaka-Samhita (the sacred writing of Charaka).

This ancient work is translated' into English by Pun¬ dit Abinash Chandra Kaviratna of Calcutta, to whose kind courtesy the editor of The Apothecary is indebted 'for the translation, of which three parts (88 pages) have so far been issued.

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The publication of this English translation of CharakaSamhita is not a mercenary venture, but a labor of love ? on the part of Abinash Chandra Kaviratna, who desires to make known to the modern world the achievements of the Rising in medical science, and who says, in a letter referring to his work, that “ many of the discoveries of modern science were well known to the sages of ancient India.”

Physicians and pharmacists will find the work intense¬ ly interesting, and to most of its readers the contents will prove a revelation, for, instead of being a collection r of mystic exorcisms, the work abounds in highly philoso¬ phical aphorisms, and its materia medica puts to shame some of the simples and compounds extolled by Euro¬ pean medical writers of comparatively modern times..

The medicines mentioned in Charaka-Samhita are principally plant drugs. Among them we find Artemisia vulgaris , Calamus, Glycyrrhiza, Zingiber, Azedarach, Ricinus communis, Hordeum, Granatum, Aconitum keterophytlum, Asafcetida, Gardamomum, Solanum nigrum Cinnamomum, Piper nigrum, Piper longum, Catechu, Santalum rubrum, Cassia fistula, Sinapis, Coriandrum, Santalum album, Crocus, Caryopkyllus, Cuminwn, etc. Species of Strychnos, Convolvulus, Berberis Asclepias, Solanum, Rumex, etc., are also enumerated. Sulphate of iron is among the inorganic remedies.

The remedies include the principal classes now re¬ cognized, as tonic, alterative, febrifuges, anodines, stimuants, sedatives, emetics, cathartics, anthelmintics, diuretics, diaphoretics, expectorants, astringents, etc.

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The pharmaceutical preparations mentioned are prin¬ cipally the infusions, decoctions, powders, ointments and plasters.

The hygienic and dietetic rules of Charaka-Samhita are remarkably terse and generally as good as those nowformulated.

(The Boston Medical and Surgical Journal, Thursday, October, 1892.)

Charaka-Samhita — The medical literature of an¬ cient and mediaeval India is extensively voluminous. Be¬ sides a large number of comprehensive treatises there are also several abridgments. It appears that in ancient times all professors of medicine considered it incumbent upon themselves to write text-books for their students, or at least to make an abridgment of somebody else’s treatise. The oldest of these treatises and the most famous of them is “Charaka-Samhita,” which appeared at least as early as the ninth or tenth century, and perhaps very much earlier. The translation of “ Charaka” into English has been undertaken by an eminent scholar, Abinash Chandra Kaviratna, of Calcutta, who is himself a> practitioner of the Hindu system of medicine.

**#*-**■ Medical abuses similar to those existing to-day must also have been in existence some centuries ago, for we find that the illustrious son of Atri tells his disciples that “ the unknown drug is like poison, or weapon, or fire or thunder, while a well-known' drug is like nectar. Drugs unknown by name, appearance and properties, or misap¬ plied even if known; produce mischief. Well applied,

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