eS a ea Se 
February, 1908. | Annual Address. XXxi 
ancient lost» rae Dr. Rudolph Hoernle, one of our past presidents. 
The first portion of the work of Dr. Hoernle, which has been 
recently actiahed, deals with the subject of Usteology, and makes 
manifest the surprising extent and accuracy of the knowledge 
of the subject possessed by the snriseat medical writers in India, 
whose work has been traced undoubtedly to the 6th century 
before Christ. I have no desire, on the present oce asion, to enter 
had iithee to very eee knowl ge. Comsidaabis light may 
also be thrown on a comparative study of the subject by a valuable 
monograph on the surgical instraments in Greek and Roman 
times by Dr. Milne, who submited i: as a thesis to the University 
of Aberdeen for the Degree of Doctor of Medicine. An examina- 
tion of the works of Vr. Hoernle and Dr. Milne makes it obvious, 
even to a layman like myself, that Indian writers on medicine 
possessed an extensive and accurate knowledge, based, undoubtedly, 
upon dissections and experiments, in no way inferior to the know- 
ledge pox-sessed by Greek and Rom»n physicians. Interesting 
questions. may arise as to the relation «f the medicine of the 
Indians to that of the ancient Greeks and Romans, and it may be 
a matter of corsi erable difficulty to ascertain, with any approach 
to precision, how far either system was in ndebted to the other. 
Questions of some difficulty, again, may a:ise as to the time when 
the great writers on Indian Medicine flourished, as is amply indi- 
cated in a very instructive discussion on the subject between Dr. 
Hoernle on the one hand, and Prof. Jolly on te other, in recent 
commuopications to the Royal Asiatic Society of London, It is 
y no means surprising to find that ees pat om light may be 
thrown upon these and allied teupics from even incidental refer- 
ences in the writings of the yreat Buddhist travellers. I commend 
with confidence this field of enquiry, as a promising one, to tiie 
attention of our members, and it wonld be a matter for genuine 
regret, if a subject which is se peculiarly Indian, should be left 
altogether untouched and unillumined by the medical members of 
our Society, 
There is one other topic to which I would like to invite yoar 
attention for a moment, before I bring this address to a close. 
During the last year, the search for Sanskrit, Arabic and Persian 
of i wile ‘tion which he made ae as stacked in the Repo:t 
laid on the table, is of considerable interest. It wo ae be unfair 
to expect t the same amonnt of ma ere discoveries in the 
present visit as attended the labours of the Sastri on two previous 
occasions, We cannot legitimately expect on every occasion to 
discover grammatical works, now lest in India, or to recover insti- 
