Preface

The struggle for existence has necessitated the man to invent and/or discover the newer things. In this process he learned the art of healing¥the designing and manufacturing the medicines. He understood the importance of the physical well-being for achieving the means of life. Initially he tried the materials from organic sources and when he noticed that the desired results could not be achieved he started using the inorganics either alone or in combination with organicals and achieved the success. The underlying reason for this success is the structural and functional aspects of the entire body.

The body is maintained and manipulated by its inorganic elemental composition, whether it is a major component¥the water and the organic components like carbohydrate, protein etc. or the minor components, which are combinations of various elements viz. Carbon, Hydrogen, Oxygen, Nitrogen and other elements. The ash furnishes the elemental content of the body, which is about 4.35% in an average human body of which 4/5lhis in skeleton and 1% in organs. These elements are not only essential to human beings but also to the other animals and plants as well. Among the presently known 117 elements near about 81 are present in the human body and amongst them some are essential. The deficiencies of the essential elements will lead to several diseases and their replacement will bring back to normalcy. Besides these the other elements are present in the body and various reports are available about their physiological levels in various body tissues.

The practitioners of the western system are falsely propagating/publicizing the utility of the heavy metals, even though some of the heavy metals have gained a place in their therapeutics. These elements are currently considered under mineral metabolism and water and electrolyte metabolism. Nowadays a special branch ie medical elementology/bioinorganics is on anvil. However this was realized very long back and started using them in therapeutics after adopting appropriate measures. This has led to the origin of a specialized branch of Ayurveda i.e Rasa Sastra in those days. In fact the Rasa Sastra has its roots in Vedic era itself in some or other form. The references about the usage of metals, the Sodhan etc process were available Earlier the Mercury and other inorganic elements were used extravagantly in alchemy. Litter the Mercury has been used extensively in therapeutics. Thus Mercury occupied the pivotal role in both alchemy and the therapeutics. Here are some references indicating the importance of Mercury.