CHAPTER VII.
INDIAN MATERIA MEDICA.
THE Materia Medica of the Hindoos is a marvel to the modern investigator. In it are fully described the properties of drugs belonging to the animal, vegetable, and mineral kingdoms, and of the articles of food essential to the maintenance of health and strength. The theory which forms the basis of the investigation is, that every substance, whether animal, vegetable, or mineral, possesses five properties, namely, Rasa, Guna, Veerya, Vipaka, and Prabhava.
1. Rasas (tastes) are six — sweet, sour, salt, bitter, pungent, and astringent. Of these the first is more restorative than the second, the second more so than the third, and so on. The first three tastes (sweet, sour, and salt) are antagonistic to wind humour, and the other three to phlegmatic disorders. Astringent, bitter and
