With reference to mandragora, Sir Benjamin Ward Richardson once prepared a draught according to one of the recipes given by Dioscorides, and took it. He tells us that “the phenomena repeated themselves with all faithfulness, and there can be no doubt that, in the absence of our now more convenient anæsthetics, ‘morion’ might still be used with some measure of efficacy for general anæsthesia.” Further allusion is made to mandragora as a surgical anæsthetic by Apuleius in his “Liber de Herbis,” in which he says: “If anyone is to have a limb mutilated, burnt, or sawn, he may drink half an ounce of mandragora with wine; and while he sleeps the member may be cut off without any pain or sense.” Avicenna, the Father of Arabian medicine, gives special directions as to the employment of mandragora, both as an anæsthetic and a hypnotic; while Averrhöes, another Arabian physician, refers to the soporific effects of the fruit of the same plant. Galen also alludes to its powers to paralyse sensation, and Paulus Ægineta states: “Its apples are narcotic, when smelled to, and also their juice, that if persisted in they will deprive the person of his speech.” According to Isidorus, “a wine of the bark is given to those about to undergo operations, that, being asleep, they feel no pain”; and Serapion confirms this statement in his works. [Sidenote: Anæsthesia in Roman times] Evidence of the practice of surgical anæsthesia is to be found in the writings of several physicians during the time of the Roman Empire. It is probable that the practice came to them from the Greek school, for mandragora, which they almost invariably used, grew largely in the Grecian Archipelago. Celsus recommends a pillow of mandragora apples to induce sleep. HINDU ANÆSTHETICS From ancient records it appears probable, that the Hindus inhaled the fumes of burning Indian hemp as an anæsthetic at a period of great antiquity. As early as the year 977 they also knew of other drugs which they employed for the same purpose. Pandit Ballala describes an interesting surgical operation which was performed on King Bhoja at that period. The patient was suffering from severe pain in the head, and, his condition becoming critical, two brother-physicians happened to arrive in Dhar, who, after carefully considering the case, came to the conclusion that a surgical operation was necessary to give relief. They are said to have administered to him a drug called _sammohini_ to render him insensible, and while he was completely under its influence they trepanned his skull and removed the real cause of the complaint. They closed the opening, stitched up the wound, and applied a healing balm. After the operation, they are said to have administered to the King a drug called _sanjivini_, to accelerate the return of consciousness and to minimise the chances of death. [Sidenote: An antient Chinese anæsthetic]