English
Duherty and adolescence : acne, seborrhea,, anemia, chlorosis, chlororaa, myxedema, exoph¬ thalmic goitre, catalepsy, trance, myoma,myolema,, typhoids, meningitis, myocarditis, endocarditis, hysteria, cerebral embolism, epilepsy. Early adult age: acute tuberculosis, pulmo¬ nary phthisis, gastralgia, gastric ulcer,syringomy- PATHOLOGY 189 elia, cerebral abscess, cerebral embolism, myoma, periodic paralysis. Middle age : exophthalmic goitre, myxedema, diabetes, chronic nephritis, cysts of kidney, myo¬ cardial diseases, endocarditis, aneurism, leucemia, pernicious anemia, angina pectoris, ataxic para¬ plegia, dementia paralytica, paralysis agitans, intraspinal hemorrhage, myelitis, locomotor ataxia, psychosis polyneuritica, carcinoma, gout, cirrhosis of liver, gallstones, mollities ossium. Old age : pruritus, ecthyma, gout, pephigus, epithelioma, carcinoma, gout, arteriosclerosis, cataract, gangrene,bronchitis,broncho -pneumonia, aneurism, prostatic disease, myocardial disease, angina pectoris, cerebral apoplexy, paralysis agi¬ tans, melancholia. Diseases special or predominant in females : chlorosis, osteomalcia, chorea, floating kidney, lupus erythematosus, gallstones, constipation, chorea, hysteria, neurasthenia, catalepsy, goitre, myxedema, adiposis dolorosa, gastralgia, anemia. In addition to the above-mentioned constitu¬ tional, metabolic or infectious diseases, there are of course countless other infectious diseases which' can attack all ages and can bring about by slow or rapid process the cessation of vital activities and their co-ordination of the organism. 190 ANCIE>’T HINDU MEDICINE But though death is inevitable to multicellu¬ lar life, Ssuruta emphasizes that natural death through degeneration of senescence is a very nxre phenomenon: “According to Atharva-veda scho¬ lars, deaths are of one hundred and one kinds, of which the natural death (through old age) is one while the rest one hundred are accidental (inclu¬ ding infection).” Susmta I. 34. 5''. It is an undeniable fact, that protoplasm—the living substance, living a particulate life in unicellular existence and community life in mullicellular existence, under favorable conditions, has not necessarily any limitation of its life, and as every living organism, comes into existence as a protoplasm of a pre-existing living organism protoplasm is potentially immortal. Bepro- duction among the unicellular creatures is by fission, so in a sense they never die as long as proper conditions are maintained. But life can, also, be preserved under adverse circum¬ stances with arrested vitality as in hibernation of many animals in winter. Even suspended vitali¬ ty is not incompatible with life as many microb- 77. i PATHOLOGY 191 es, or their spores, can he completely desiccated and kept in that state for many years, and after that if they find a favorable medium, they show their full aetivities again ( anabiosis ). Grains which have been found in ancient Egyptian tombs which have been lying there in a desiccated state for more than one hundred ceturies, have been found to germinate. And many fish can be frozen with water and made an ice block and kept in that condition for any length of time and if it be thawed slowly, the fish can be revivified. Only when protoplasm is coagulated, it loses its vita¬ lity. Many trees are known, which according to reliable tradition, have lived more than a thou¬ sand years. Death comes to a tree by storm, light¬ ning, fungi and parasitie diseases, improper nu¬ trition from the soil either by the exhaustion or excess of some of the salts or the insoluble combina¬ tion of others, improper moisture or sunlight; but these are all accidental and are avoidable. It is asserted that there are authenticated cases of men who have lived more than 152 years. Old age is certainly a disease, brought about by the dege¬ nerative changes, caused by microbic infection, absorption of their toxins and unhygienic living. But this will be in future more or less controllable with better knowledge of prophylaxis, dietary. 192 AXCIENT HINDU MEDICINE rational living and hygiene. And very few people really die of senile degeneration. What actually happens is this : in the debilitated condition when the resisting power of the organism has been re¬ duced, some infection takes place. Preventive medicine in future wdll possibly eliminate many of the virulent infections, but it can not impl that death, will be preventible. Death is probab¬ ly nature’s economy of life. It eliminates those who are no more capable of reproduction or can not contribute materially to the support and pro¬ vision of offspring, thus releasing the food-supply to the new-generation for growth, development and progress. Old age (senility) is the effect of the cumulative auto-intoxications. Organism in its very functioning—in the metabolic process, produces various toxic products, which, if not thoroughly eliminated, can accumulate in the or¬ ganism bringing about degenerative changes. According to Metchnikoff toxins are principally absorbed from the putrefactive products of the large intestine and to counteract the activities of the pro¬ teolytic bacilli, which can only thrive in alkaline reaction, he proposed the introduction into the large intestine of the most active lactic acid pro¬ ducing bacilli (bacillus Bulgaricus or maya fer¬ ment) in the form of soured and curdled milk. PATHOLOGY 19S It is true that the large intestine serves no vital' function in the economy of life, and it has been simply developed in animals as an accommodation, so that animals are not compelled to slow the speed and wait for defecation, while running. And animals with comparatively short intestine live relatively longer than the animals with larger intestine. And all the organs of the body do not equally show the signs of senile degeneracy. But the human body is a complex, intricate and deli¬ cate machinery. If any of the vital organs is seriously affected, it interferes with the integrity of the organism as all the organs are intimate¬ ly related and interdependent. A diseased organ like the heart or the kidney can not be replaced like a broken or Avorn-out part of an auto or aeroplane machinery. They can be only slowly and gradually improved by a regenerating process of relieving them of the burden and tension by proper dietary and rational living. But every disease leaves an indelible mark, every shock an impression and every healed wound a cicatrix. And the effect is cumulative. If all the infections could be controlled, still there would be old age and death brought about by the slow b..t cumulative effect of the partial retention o' the metabolic wastes, defective; 191. ANCIENT HINDU MEDICINE hereditary inheritance, mental, emotional, and physical shocks and excitements. Buffon calculated that the duration of life was six to seven times to that of growth, but Plourens estimated it about five times. As the epiphysis closes about twenty five in man, so it can be calculated that the longevity of man should average from 125 years upwards. This is certainly a respectable age compared to the pre¬ sent standard, though some of the animals,lacking intelligence and control over the environment are reputed to live longer as some authenticated records show : salmon one hundred years ; in the case of a carp one hundred and fifty years ; pike two hundred years ; crocodile one hundred yeai’S; tortoise two hundred years ; eagle one hundred years ; parrot eighty years ; swan eighty years; ducks and geese fifty years ; falcons one hundred years. In the records of zoological garden in conS.nement, the rhinoceros is known to have lived longer than thirty-seven years, and the average duration of the life of horses, asses and zebras from fifteen to thirty years, domestic cattle from twenty-five to thirty years, sheep, goats and antelopes from twelve to fifteen years, llama seventeen years, hippopotamus thirty- seven years, 'domestic swine twenty years, ele- PATHOLOGY 195 I phants thirty to forty years, lions, tigers, bears about 25 years, domestic cats from twelve to twenty-three years, dogs from sixteen to eighteen, years, hares and rabbits about ten years, mice and rats from five to six years, bats about seven¬ teen j^ears, monkeys eight to thirty years ( Bncij. Brit. Vol XVI. p. 975 ). DISEASES and THESE, CEIHZCAL STUDIES. “Ailing ( vyadhi ), disease ( dmaya ), sickness ( gada ), terror ( dtanha ), consumption (yyaJcsma) fever ( jvara ), indisposition ( vikara ), and malady {rogci) are synonyms. Etiology {nidana), prodrome {parvarTipa), symptoms {Vihga^^remedy ( npasaya ) and sequel ( samprdpti ) are the diagnostics of a disease. That ‘etiology’ means the causes of disease^ has been previously mentioned. The premonitory symptoms that are observed before the development of a disease, ar termed as ^prodromes’. The symptom of a developed disease ( the disease might stay in a latent stato and the incubation of many infections may last for many years in a resisting organism ) is called the ‘liiiga’. Characteristic (dkrti), indication (laksmana), sign (chihna), lineament {samsthdna), trait {vyanjana)^ feature ( rTipa ) are synonymous terms with j symptom ( Uhga ). Remedy is called that combined action of medicine ( ausadha ), diet ( iiliura ) and hygienic living ( viliara ), which cures the disease by counteracting either its- DISEASES 107 causes or symptoms. Sequel ( samprapti ), out¬ come ( agati ) and after-developments ( jatl ) are synonymous,” Ckaraka 11. 1. Fevers are being mentioned in the beginning of the book of pathology, for fever is the first expression of all physical diseases.” Charaka IT. 1.