English
Suction ( by hygroscopic calcined stones which suck the fluid with the poisonous principles ), incision ( to drain out the poisoned blood and the lympth ) and cauterization (to destroy the poisonous principles and the poisoned area ) are always applicable (after tight ligature). Susruta V, 5. 2®^®. Injection of polyvalent antivenom serum has proved very promising. 269. vmt g I HHigcw, ii 370. 684 . ANCIENT HINDU MEDICINE III. Sexual Hygiene. Physical Maturity ■ “An intelligent physi¬ cian should know that man at 25 years of age- and woman at 16 attain at their (physical ) maturity with full ( organic ) development.’' Susruta\.. 35. 9"’’. “He who cares for longevity should not have sexual intercourse, before he is 16 years old, or after he is 70 ( Though a boy at 16 has his sper¬ matozoa developed and is capable of reproduction, yet he needs to conserve and utilize the spermin up to the age of 25 for the development of his body and mind ; in old age, the tension of copulation is liable to cause rupture of the calcified and friable blood-vessels )." CharakaYl. 2. 60-"". g ii SI 5 271. ftfh i cT! ^rql^rcT ifajft firqqr i 272. q' qTf jusata, ^sjt; ^ ^ i THERAPEUTICS 585- Tuberculosis increases sexual desire : “If a tuberculous patient ( consumptive ) gradually loses his strength, and his expectorations in¬ crease, yet he is fond of sexual iotercourse, the disease will lead him to his death ( It is well known that the tubercular patients become very sexually inclined ; it is very probable that the rich phosphorus contents of the Bacillus tuber¬ culosis become liberated in the disintegration process as a reaction of the organism, and this circulating with the blood acts as an aphrodi¬ siac, and consequently sexual erethism is one of the most distinguished characteristics of this disease).” Charaha Yl. 3. 5"’^®. Sexual intercourse forbidden ; “Do not have sexual intercourse with a menstruating woman (there seems to he a universal prejudice against intercourse with a menstruating woman; it is possible that the presence of blood has been regarded by the primitive man as impure, or unesthetic ; it is probable, however, that the motive is more utilitarian, as many of the religious observances, regulations and injunc¬ tions are certainly based on principles of 273. w Jjfnsjtrag i 586 ANCIENT HINDU MEDICINE hygiene oi- economic considerations ; in apparent¬ ly cured and neglected old gonorrhea, the gonococci might still live in the upper tract, and may be dislodged with the flou' of the menstrual blood, and cause urethritis to the man with whom she may have copulation, while in other times it might remain entirely innocuous ; a menstruating woman on her part is rather sexually inclined during that period, and would be much relieved of turgescence by the embrace), with a diseased, or unclean woman (for hygienic reasons) or with one whose vagina is nai’row (vaginismus), whose beauty does not appeal (rouse the senses), or whose conduct is repulsive or who is artless, homely, or one who goes with other men (thus can be infected and spread the disease) ; nor go with another man’s wife ; nor practise bestiality, or unnatural vices (sodomy and pederasty).” Charaka I. 8. Aphrodisiac : “A pretty, youthful, well-form¬ ed, charmingly attired, willing and well-educated 274. ij MigKt 'sirawt I THERAPEUTICS 587 woman (wife) is the best aphrodisiac (in impo¬ tence).” Char aha VII. 2. Impregnation : “In the (sexual) congress of man and woman, by the nervous tension heat (tumescence) is generated. The heat and (vaginal) secretion provoke the discharge of the semen, and which unites with the ovum {arttava is a vague expression ; but it is certain that it meant more than menstruation blood,* as it could not exist after menstrual flow ceased ; perhaps it was an indistinct conception of the ovule which wdien it becomes ripe, ruptures the Graafian follicle in which it is enclosed and causes menstruation). Then the united sperm and the ovum (the fecundated ovum) reach the uterus.” Susruta III. 3. 3^^'’. “As the germination (of a seed) takes place by the combination of proper season, field, moisture and seed, so pregnancy is developed 275. ^ fsisjfcTT t 276. ct^ i 588 ANCIENT HINDU MEDICINE by their proper combination ( = proper season standing for the first 12 days after menstruation ; = field for uterus; amvu = moisture for ovum ; vija = seed, for sperm, i. e. for spermatozoon).” Susrnta III. 2. 33“^ \ Heredity : “The child inherits the charac¬ teristics of the parents acquired by them under the influence of diet, behaviour and (physical and mental) exertions, during their copulation (in which the impregnation takes place. Though hereditary transmission can not be explained by such a simple formula, yet it is undeniable that the gerraplasms must be under profound impression of the physical and the mental state of the parents in the time of fertilization. An irritable spermatozoon either by alcohol, or by the morbid condition of blood, is very apt to create the same diathesis in the offspring).”^ Susruta III. 9. 63-^®. “He who abstains from meat and wine, and 277. get' 'gg'tif i 278. ^rfiraTCTlfvt: wnPfsl i ct^: Jnssi: ii h M , H I THERAPEUTICS 689 takes only beneficial food, and leads a pure (hygienic) life, he and his descendants do not suffer from insanity.” Charaka'Vl. 9. 63 “If a man copulates with a menstruating woman on the first day of her course, he shortens his life, and there is embryonic abortion of the fruit of conception ; if on the second day, there is still-birth ; if on the third day, the child is of incomplete development and becomes short¬ lived ; but if on the fourth day, the child is well- developed and possesses good vitality (a long life). As a thing (floating substance) thrown in a river can not ascend up-stream against the course of the current, so when the menstrual blood flows, the seed (spermatozoon) can not enter in and become active (during the copulative act, the forward and the backward movement, especially of the glans-penis, acts almost like a valve of the suction-pump, creating a kind of vacuum state, widening the mouth of the womb, deflating it and drawing it forward, so that when the semen is discluxrged, it shoots like a jet of spray and is sucked by the womb with i79. ^ VJTci; I ’ 590 ANCIENT HINDU MEDICINE the ovum ; in case the vagina is filled with menstrual blood or fluid, this suction can not but be incomplete ; the vaginal secretions at the entrance of the penis or in strong sexual desire serve simply to lubricate the passage, so that the delicate mucous membrane can not be hurt ). Therefore one should not indulge in the sexual union during the first three days of menstruation, nor (after twelve days) in the month (in the second week the ovum begins to degenerate, and either it is incapable of fertilization, or if fecundated, it is apt to reproduce a weakling ).” Susruta III. 2 31*'“. Sex-determination of the offspring : “If a male child is desired, the husband should practise continence for a month ( to increase sexual erethism and vigor ), and after fattening himself with clarified butter, milk-fat, milk and rice, shall copulate with his wife after music, endear¬ ments ( to excite the senses ) and assurance of 280 . 'g'vr \ w:, n l I =^5 g i ^ ^ vr^fir, arft ’ff?' sPfSTO I farra qhvta, '^ra: aK ii g^sg-g'fvar, anflK^rnur, ^ i THERAPEUTICS 591 love to her, on the fourth, sixth, eighth, tenth or twelfth clay of menstruation, and she likewise should have lived a continent life for a month, fattened herself with clarified butter and fed on oily and nitrogenous foods. If the conjugal duty is performed on these days, it conduces to ( the promotion of) wisdom, longevity, health, increase of population, wealth and strength. If a girl is desired , sexual union should take place on the fifth, seventh, ninth or eleventh day. Prom the thirteenth day ( up to the new monthly cycle ; from the second week after menstruation, the ovum begins to deteriorate and is usually incapable of impregnation ) cohabita¬ tion is blameworthy ( as the union is fruitless, it is only for the sensual gratification and indulgence, and not for the welfare of the race)”. Siisruta III. 2. 28-30 = **. II 592 ANCIENT HINDU MEDICINE Sex-determination is still speculative. It was believed a few years ago that there were two kinds of ovum, male and female, the former produced by the right ovary and the latter by the left. By animal experimentation and human ovariotomy, it has been found to be erroneous. The egg produced by the ovary is still bi-sexual, hermaphroditic in nature, and its sex is not determined like all its mono-cellular prototypes, before it phylogenetically ascends the scale of evolution, that is before amphimixis is started through the process ef fertilization by the male reproductive cell. That is the starting point of sexual differentiation which begins with the impregnation of the ovum. The question then arises whether the sex determinant resides in the spermatozoon or in the ovum. In the Hymeuop- tera an accessory chromosome has been found in neaily half the spermatozoa, and it was regarded by McClung as the sex-determining factor. It may be simply an Hdant ’—bearer of arrested hereditary trait. But the experiments of Loeb have demonstrated that the spermatozoon, at least in the lower scale of evolution, only acts as a stimulant to start the amphimixis, and it can be substituted by artificial chemical stimulus.