122 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [15:3— March, 1919 



We are accustomed to think of these people as meditative but unpractical, 

 and to speak of the "dreamy Hindu." This little book goes far to give us a 

 more just idea of them. They are shown to have been pioneers in at least 

 sixteen branches of science, including Mathematics (Arithmetic, Algebra, 

 Geometry, Trigonometry, Co-ordinated Geometry, and Differential Calculus). 

 They knew scientifically something of Physics, Chemistry, Metallurgy, and 

 the Chemical Arts, probably because of their very practical nature. Some of 

 the arts in which the people of India are known to be proficient are, — bleaching, 

 dyeing, calico printing, tanning, soap-making, glass-making, manufacture of 

 steel. The secret of manufacturing the so-called Damascus blades was learned 

 by the Saracens from the Persians who had obtained it from the Hindus. 

 They also made gunpowder and fireworks and preparations of cements. So 

 early as the sixth century the mercurial operations alone were nineteen in 

 number. Pliny, in the first century, "noted the industrial position of the 

 Hindus as paramount in the world." The preparation of fast dyes and the 

 tempering of steel were two original and important discoveries made by them. 



Even in medicine and surgery they had some proficiency and for the times a 

 surprising amount of accurate scientific knowledge. To our surprise we read 

 that "dissection of the human body and venesection were normal facts in 

 medical India," and "the doctors of the Sushruta School declared that dissec- 

 tion was necessary for a correct knowledge of the internal structure of the body. 

 It also helped them in their surgical operations to avoid vital parts." "In the 

 Hindu surgical laboratory were at least 127 surgical instruments," and among 

 these were included besides knives, scissors, forceps, etc., the catheter and the 

 syringe. In this connection we are reminded that it is only fair to remember 

 the barber-surgeons of Europe in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries and that, 

 quoting from Wallace, "by the side of the latest discoveries and inventions, any 

 achievements of the human brain in the past, whether in the East or the West, 

 are but children's toys." 



In Embryology they had accurate knowledge that was fundamental. Their 

 knowledge of plants was practical as was their familiarity with animals and 

 they had a veterinary science, and one is hardly surprised to learn that the 

 Hindus had hospitals for animals in the third century B.C. They were 

 especially skilled in "the science of horses and elephants, the two animals 

 important in warfare. ' ' We learn that there have been scientific encyclopedias 

 in Sanskrit. 



Their theories regarding the nature of life sound very modem, there being 

 three schools ; the Charvahas, corresponding to our materialists, held that life 

 and consciousness is the result of combinations of dead matter; the second 

 school or Samkhyas believed that life is "a reflex activity, a resultant of the 

 various concurrent activities and reactions of the organism;" a third school, 

 the Vedantists assert that "sensations do not explain life. Life must be 

 regarded as a separate principle — prior to the senses." 



The author presents no claims for modern attainments of the Hindus in 

 science. The reasons for their present backwardness may perhaps be shown 

 by the student of history, but the evidence here presented seems to show that it 

 is not due to a fundamental difference in mentality. M. E. H. 



