of India was in its heyday of glory. Every important town could then boast of one or more medical schools, the pupils at which used to accompany their teachers to the jungles to identify for themselves the various drugs mentioned in their books. The physicians, in their laborious researches, were very liberally encouraged by the ruling chiefs — great and small — in all parts of the country. So long as they continued to receive encouragement from the kings, the science prospered and flourished. Its decline dates from the Mahomedan invasions in the tenth century. The minds of both princes and people were distracted by these foreign intruders. They were chiefly engrossed in taking measures for opposing the invaders. It was only natural that during such a state of unrest and disorder, the native Vaidyas should slacken their zeal for making further investigations in the Indian flora, for want of encouragement. Far from being able to follow up the practical part of their study, they had to rest content with the theoretical knowledge imparted by their books, and to depend on ordinary grocers for the supply of drugs required for their nostrums. When the Mahomedan power was firmly established in
