the principal centres for disseminating Brahmanic culture in distant lands, and Hippocrates, though he did his utmost to liberate medical science from the thraldom of speculative philosophy, yet might have thought it necessary to retain only those truths of the Ayurveda which Pythagoras and the Buddhistic brotherhood might have imported into his country, and which do not exactly appertain to the domain of pure metaphysics. Of course, it is quite possible for men of different nationalities to arrive at the same truth or conclusion independently. There are coincidences in science as in art and philosophy, (1) Gravitation and circulation of blood (2) were known to the Indians long before the births of Newton and Harvey in Europe. The celebrated atomic theory was preached in the Gangetic valley some five hundred years before the birth of Christ (3). But well may we ask those, who still adhere to this Hellenic hobby, to look at the reverse side of the picture as well. It may be stated without the least fear of contradiction that the Charaka and Sushruta, through the Channel of Arabic, Persian and Latin translations still form the
(
Indic characters)
Siddhanla Shiromani (Bhaskaracharyaya) GolodhyAya.
(Indic characters)
The Hdrita Samhitd, which according to certain scholars, is older than
the Sushruta SamhitS, refers to the circulation of blood in describing
I'induroga (Anemia). The disease, he observes, is caused by eating clay
which thus blocks the lumen of veins and obstructs the circulation of blood,
Bhcivamisra, the celebrated author of Bh^vaprakdsham, and who is a
century older than Harvey, has the above couplets bearing on the sufcject.
(3) Vaiseshika Darshana by Kandda.
