Materia medica of Hindoostan, and artisan’s and agriculturist’s nomenclature.

The first book in English on the materia medica of India, and a pioneering work in the field of Indian medical history. Ainslie joined the British East India Company as an assistant surgeon in 1788 and spent the next 27 years in India, eventually rising to the position of superintending surgeon of the southern division of the army in Madras. He was one of the first European scholars to investigate the traditional Hindu medical system known as Ayurveda,. The specific purpose of his book was to make indigenous remedies available to the British Army, thus reducing its reliance on expensive imported drugs; however, his larger purpose was to bridge the gap between the medical cultures of Europe and Asia. He was careful to distinguish the Indian medicines already known in Europe from those exclusively used by native physicians. Ainslie drew upon works in Sanskrit, Tamil, Persian and Arabic, all of which he cited in his bibliography. The names of the medicaments listed in the work are given in several languages, using roman, Tamil and Arabic types. Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link.