MEDICINE 6000 B.C.

Rangitikei Advocate and Manawatu Argus, Volume XXXVII, Issue 10748, 12 September 1913, Page 7

MEDICINE 6000 B.C.

Speaking before the Royal Society of Medicine recently, Dr O. Muthu, of the Mentfjp Hills Sanatorium, Wells, Fait. 1 that Hindu civilisation was the moit ancient iu the world. The astronomical allusions in the hymns of the Rig Veda, the oldeEt literature in the world, .took one back to 6000 B.C. Their medicine was as old as their civilisation. They excelled in materia msdica ami chemistry; they were the first anioisg the ancients to practice the dissection of the human body and to employ minerals and mercury internally. Blany centuries ago they understood the germ theory, circulation of the blood, and inoculation for smallpox. Their successful treatment of snake bitss astonished Alexander theGreat,audtheir surgery was bold and skilful, for not only did they set broken bones, but.they trephined the skull, gave assesthetics in serious operations, and amputated limbs. After the death of Buddha, when surgery flourished more, medical houses and hospitals were established in India, provided with medicines and instruments, and at tended by physicians who relieved the sick and suffering, but long befora Buddha there were medical schools and colleges. Arab medicine, which was founded on Hindu medicine, taught European physicians as late as the 17th century, and Western people owed a great debt to India in this direction.