१४० . काश्यपसंहिता वा वृद्धजीवकीयं तन्त्रम्

एवमेव १डायज (Diaz), डाक्टरहर्श्वबर्ग (Dr. Hirschberg), डाक्टर हुइलेट (Dr. Huillet), डाक्टर वाइज् (Dr. Wise), विट्नी (Whitney) प्रभृतिभिर्महोदयैरपि समर्थितं वर्तते ॥

प्राचीनमिश्रे भैषज्यविज्ञानम्

प्राचीनानां ग्रीसदेशीयानामन्येषां च बहूनां विदुषां लेखानुसन्धाने ग्रीसवैद्यकस्य मूलं मिश्रीयं स्रोतः प्राधान्येनावगम्यते । ग्रीसे वैज्ञानिकवैद्यकोदयात् पूर्वमेव मिश्रे वैज्ञानिकं वैद्यकं प्रतिष्ठितमुपलभ्यते च । देशसन्निकर्षोऽपीदं सङ्गमयति । तेन मिश्रीयभैषज्यविज्ञानबीजेभ्योऽपि ग्रीसे तदीयनत्राङ्कुरा उदिताः प्रतीयन्ते ॥

मिश्रगतं भैषज्यविज्ञानमपि केनापि देशान्तरविज्ञानेनानुप्राणितमुत स्वस्यामेव भूमिकायां स्वबलेनैवोत्थितं प्रतिष्ठितं चेति निर्धारयितुमसाधारणानि विनिगमकानि परिच्छेत्तव्यानि भवन्ति । अशोकशिलालेखतस्तत्समये (B. C. 273-233) मिश्रेऽपि भारताद्वैषज्यसंस्थानां भेषजानां च प्रवर्तनस्य स्पष्टोपलम्भेन, भारताद्विदुषो भिषजश्च सादरं नीतवतोऽलेक्जेण्डरस्योपरममनु (B. C. 323) अलेक्जेण्ड्रियायामुदिते भैषज्यविज्ञानविशेषे भारतीयविज्ञानप्रभासम्पर्कस्य बहुशः सम्भवितया च एतत्समयतःस्तु मिश्रेपि भारतीयभैषज्यविज्ञानप्रभानुवेधो वक्तव्य एव । अशोकशिलालेखेऽपि निर्दिष्टेन मिश्राधिपतिना तुरमय (Ptolemy Philadelphos) नाम्ना अलेक्जेण्ड्रियायाः प्रसिद्धपुस्तकालयस्य स्थापनमथवा वर्धनं व्यधायि, तदीयपुस्तकालयस्य कार्याध्यक्षो भारतीयानां बहूनां ग्रन्थानामनुवादे समुत्सुक आसीदिति एपीफेनिस (Epiphanius) महोदयेन वर्णितमस्तीति भाण्डारकरीये अशोक२नाम्नि पुस्तके दृश्यते । इरानग्रीसयोः (B. C. 479) सामयिके युद्धे प्लेटियारणस्थले ग्रीसवीरैः सह

---

१. Professor Diaz of the Konigsberg university clearly.detects the principles of Indian medicine in the Greek system.
Dr. Hirschberg of Berlin says—‘The whole plastic surgery in Europe had taken its new light when these cunning devices of Indian workmen became known to us. The transplanting of sensible skin flaps is also an entirely Indian method’. The same writer also gives credit to the Indians for discovering the art of cataract couching, ‘which was entirely unknown to the Greeks, the Egyptians, or any other nation’.
He also adds in a learned paper, with regards to certain surgical operations, that, ‘the Indians knew and practised ingenious operations, which always remained unknown to the Greeks, and which even we Europeans only learnt from them with surprise in the beginning of this century. Pp. 178, 193.
Dr. Huillet, late of Pondicherry, assures us that ‘Vaccination was known to a physician Dhanvantari, who flourished before Hippocrates’. P. 179
The Hindoos knew human anatomy and something of physiology. ‘The Hindoo Philosophers’, says Dr. Wise, ‘undoubtedly deserve the credit of having, though opposed by strong prejudice, entertained sound and philosophical views respecting uses of the dead to living; and were the first scientific and succesful cultivators of the most important and essential of all the departments of medical knowledge—practical anatomy’. P. 179.
The ophthalmic and obstetric and other operations have been practised for ages in India and ‘our modern surgeons have been able to borrow from them (Hindoos) the operation of rhinoplasty’.
Whitney says: ‘The medical science, although its beginning goes back even to the Veda, in the use of medicinal plants with accompanying incantations, is of little account, and its proper literature by no means ancient’.
Introduction to Whitney's Sanskrit Grammar P. XXII.
२. Asoka-by D. R. Bhandarkar P. 158.