English
It is well known that duilng- the return voyage of Cristoval Colon (Cristopher Columbus) from West Indies to Spain, many of the sailors who had intercourse with the Indian women of the Islands, developed specific lesions of syphilis, and they were treated on landing by Puy Diaz de Isla who has left clinical pictures of the lesions, typical of syphilis as known to-day. In the year 1492 Cristoval Colon sailed across the Atlantic and discovered some of the outlying islands of Central America. On the fourth of January, 1493, he sailed from the West Indies on his return to Spain wliich was reached in the following March. Many of the sailors were treated on landing for a new disease, which is now identified with syphilis, and the symptoms of which appeared on the shipboard before their landing. On the fourteenth of June of the yeat 420 ANCIENT HINDU MEDICINE following, Nicholas Scyllatius reported an epidemic of syphilis. Soon after this Gonzalez Pernandez de Cordova, left Spain for Italy, where in a second campaign, his troops were l)rought into contact with those of the Prench. The Prench array numbering about 8 to 10 thousand soldiers, recruited from all parts of Europe, crossed into Piedmont on the eighth of December, in an expedition against Naples. According to the fashion of the day both the Spanish and the Prench array were accompanied by numerous courtesans and prostitutes for the entertainment of the soldiery. Nor was this enough. It is said that when the French soldiers reached Naples, in the intoxication of victory and unrestrained license of the age, they pillaged the convents and the homes of the rich,, and spared neither the nuns nor the virgins. The army quartei’ed in many important Italian and Prench cities on its return journey, left behind always in its track the ‘fearful scourge of God,’ as it was called by the Church, and with the dispersal of the army, as the soldiers returned to their homes in all parts of Europe, the disease began to spread like a plague, spajing neither the cardinals, royalties nor the laity. It was known by different names, as the ‘malady of DISEASES 421 the Neapolitans^ Portuguesse, or SpainardsJ but it was ‘par exeellenoe’ known as the disease of the Erench ( morbus gallious). And one thing is clear that the history of modern syphilis can be traced step by step to the Neapolitan expedi¬ tion of the Erench monarch Charles VIII. Bones have been exhumed of the ancient Indians, in scattered parts of America, as Colorado and Lima, exhibiting syphilitic exostosis and the results of periositis^ osteitis, sclerosis, caries and other morbid processes. All this definitely proves that syphilis was endemic in America, and the sailors of Columbus contracted the disease in their sexual intercourse with the Indian women, and on their return home, from their contact, it spread gradually to the rest of Europe and the modern world. But this can not warrant the assumption that syphi¬ lis in some other modified or attenuated form was not known to the ancient wmrld. The Old Testament, the ancient Chinese medical works, and especially Charaka and Susruta have left incontestable testimonials of the pathogenesis, evolution and the malignant course of this fateful disease. The initial lesion wdth chancre, * Peabody Museum of American Archeology and Ethnologyi Cambridge, Mass. 422 ancient hinbu medicine cutaneous manifestations, kxvyngeal symptoms,, caving in of the nasal bridge, condylomata, gum.mata in the nose, ears and eyes, exostoses of the bones {apaelil), all these make a complete picture of syphilis ( II. 11. 15 ). But it may be said that if ‘liiigarsa or upadamsa’' were really syphilis, there would have been no need of writing a chapter on 'pMrcmga' malady (morbus gallicus) with clear and systematic clinical picture of typical syphilis, by Bhava-Misra in his well-known 'Bhavu-Prakasa’ after the Portuguese had introduced it in India, in addition to that of \i,padamsa\ thus artificially adding a disease without reason, if both were indeed identical. Strangely, ‘Mddhava-Nidana\ a work of pathology, composed between the seventh and eighth centuries, gives its seventy-seventh chapter to ‘phirahga roga' and the language of both ‘Madhava-Niddna' and ^Bhdva-Prakasa' is the same. It seems clear that this must have been a later interpolation, for in Madhavakara’s time, the word ‘phiranga' was not known. Whatever may be the case, whether the passages are spurious or ‘Madhava-niddna’ is a much later work than it is generally believed, it must not be forgotten that the pathogenic micro¬ organisms do not possess the same virulence DISEASES 425 under all circumstances. As the seeds of a plant sown in different soils—marshy, sandy, fertile, rocky or desert wastes, and according to the mineral contents of the soil, sunshine, humidity and temperature—will vary in their folliage, growth, size of the plant and the fruit, and in course of time would evolve into sub-species, so a disease germ in the history of its evolution passes through an eventful career of exuberant growth and vitality or arrested development, its life being conditioned by the nourishment it receives and the environmental influences it is subjected to. Disease is the expression of the- reactions of the organism in the struggle that ensues between the invading pathogenic germs and the host at whose expense the specific germs want to live and multiply. Two organisms are never the same. The American Indians were virtually nomads who lived by hunting. Their civilization was crude and primitive. They lacked personal and communal hygiene. They knew not the comforts of advanced ‘social organi¬ zation ^—progressive and well-ordered States and Empires—in which life was settled, peaceful and regulated, and there was plenty of nutrition, medical attention and hospital facilities for all. So there is no wonder that syphilis ran a very 42 i ANCIENT HINDU MEDICINE virulent course with them. While in. Asia, it became controlled and its virulence was attenuated. Moreover, in course of time a disease becomes milder as the race becomes partially immunized by the antibodies that are elaborated by the organism as a reaction of the disease and those characteristics are transmitted from generation to generation, thus developing a partial or complete racial immunity against a specific disease. A new disease is always virulent, for the body has not yet developed antibodies as a defensive mechanism against its attack. In tiie fifteenth century, after its introduction by the sailors of Columbus, syphilis overran Europe as a terrible epidemic. Now the European races have been partially immunized against it, and it usually runs a very mild course,, even milder than what it was fifty years ago, as descriptions left by reliable medical writers unmistakably show the horrible syphilitic rtivages which are almost unknown to-day. Possibly better nutrition and hygiene have been not unimportant factors. When syphilis was fi.rst introduced in the Sandwich Islands, more than half the population was exterminated by it within a short time as by a plague. So it is very likely that when the Portuguese, introduced the. virulent type of DISEASES 425 European syphilis, it appeared almost like a new disease in the severity of the symptoms and malignant sequela. The etiology of the disease became more definite and certain, and therefore all the primary and tertiary manifestations of the lesion became united and related together, and not as descrilied before as separate diseases. “Because in the land of the Erank(European), this disease (syphilis) is very prevalent, it is called by the pathologists, ‘phii'anga’ (Erank’s or European) disease. This disease is developed by the physical contact of a Erank or coitus with a Frankish woman. Its another name is 'g’andha- roga’ (the disease that smells). It is contagious. After the incub.ation of . the disease, the ‘vdta’ becomes affected, and according to the symptom, the lesion of the ‘cMa’ is to be determined. “Syphilis manifests itself in three ways, exter¬ nally, internally, or both combined. External syphilis manifests as a slightly painful papule which ulcerates like a tumor, but is easily cur¬ able. Internally gumma appears like tumescence at the joints with pain and inflammation and is very difficult to cure. “Emaciation, loss of strength, caving in of the nasal bridge, anorexia, osteitis and osteocampsia are the symptoms of (tertiary) syphilis. 426 ANCIENT HINDU MEDICINE External syphilitic eruption and uncompli¬ cated condylomata are curable. Internal mani¬ festation {gummata) of syphilis is very hard to cure. But the internal complications of syphilis in a debilitated person are incurable. Treatment : The ancient therapeutists have said that the application of ( calcinated and inci¬ nerated ) mercury ( karpTirarasa ) positively controls (the progress of ) syphilis. And if the mercury is given in the following manner, it does not cause ulceration of the mouth : Press wheat flour with water and make a cup ( out of the paste ); place into the cup four ^gunjas' (the berries of Ahrus precatorius, weighing about a grain and a half each ) of mercury and make such a capsule of it that no mercury can he seen on the surface. Then rolling the capsule ( enclosing mercury ) on clove-powder, swallow it carefully with water, so that it does not come in contact with the teeth. Later, betel-nut should be chewed, and vegetables (consisting of leaves), acids and sodium chloride should not be indulged in. Especially fatigue, exposure to the sun, exertion and coitus must be avoided.