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efficacy of faith in certain forms of disease, they treat it as a special method, falling more properly within the province of priests,
A few words, however, seem necessary to show what abiding interest there is for all time in such a work as the Sushruta Samhita. We do not wish to enter into any historical criticism to prove that the different systems of medicine in other countries, new or old, have received more than a mere stimulus from the Indian System, and that many foreign discoveries may be traced to the work we are now presenting to the world. The opinions of some modern men of science, who cannot be accused of having any bias in favour of our system, will demonstrate its abiding value.
Surgeon General Sir Pardey Lukis, M. D., I. M. S., K. C. S. I., Director-General of Indian Medical Service, was pleased to remark in the course of his speech in the Imperial Legislative Council:—"Many of the so-called discoveries of recent years are merely re-discoveries of the facts known centuries ago to the ancients (Indians)." In noticing the first volume of this very work, the British Medical Journal observed in its issue of November, 1912:—"It is certain that in this ancient medical book there are traces of knowledge which is comparatively recent in the West."
We do not know what reception will be accorded to this work by the public, but we may fairly hope that now that the ancient Indian Medical System and the Indigenous Drugs of
