PRECIOUS STONES, GOLD AND SILVER IN INDIAN MEDICINE

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 12, Issue 21, 13 February 1948, Page 8

PRECIOUS STONES, GOLD AND SILVER IN INDIAN MEDICINE

Many of us who have been ill have cause to regret the large amount of money spent on bottles of medicines, pills and powders. Edward Ward, one of the 8.8.C.’s team sent to report on the transfer of power from Britain to India and Pakistan, went to Hyderabad during his visit. There he found the inhabitants of the Nizam General Hospital being dosed with such priceless substances as pearls, rubies, emeralds, and even gold and silver. He didn’t say whether a reluctance to the extravagant consumption of such treasures accounted for the cures wroghtj but he Explained something of the methods of the Strange hospital which, while it uses known systems of diagnosis such as temperature and pulse-tak-ing, sticks to its own ideas in regard to the medicines administered.

Ward was shown around the hqspital by the resident medical officer and said,'“two plates were brought to me with spoons full of brightcoloured, sticky medicine. ‘Would you like to try some?’ said the Hakim. Being somewhat overawed I asked if I could start an some pearls. “Certainly,” said the Hakim, handing me a teaspoonful of apalescent biscuit liquid. Thinking rather of Cleopatra, I swallowed it; it tasted very good, like honey, with which, in fact, the crushed pearls were mixed. I asked with some trepidation how much a dose such as I had just had cost. ‘lt’s expensive,’ said the Hakim, ‘about one and a ralf rupees.’ Well, encouraged by this I went on to emeralds, rubies, and a mixture of various precious stones as well as musk and amber. They all had powdered gold and silver leaf mixed up with them, too; there were bottles on the table, with some tiny seed pearls, some with calcined emeralds and rubies.”

After . absorbing this priceless treatment Ward was taken to the dispensary and shown the herbs, roots, and even silk worms’ cocoons which are used as medicine; also,, the charcoal stove over which an infusion of herbs was being brewed, and other herbs soaking in bowls of water. “All this may sound primitive and old-fashioned,” said Ward. “I suppose it is-in a way, but the fact remains that these remedies and have effected some remarkable cures.” ” Nevertheless, Britain in this time of crisis has to stick to something cheaper to relieve her citizens’ ailments.