English
And in the aphids, partbenogenetic generations THERAPEDTICS 693 alternate with the sexual reproductions, yet both the males and the females develop from the unfertilized eggs, thus proving clearly that the male sperms are not essential as sex-determinants and which must therefore lie in the ovum at the time of conception. As the females are anabolic and the males catabolic, it has been supposed that the anabolic condition of the ovum at the time of the conception is apt to reproduce the female, and the catabolic the male. On this hypothesis, some have advanced the theory that over-nutrition during gestation is likely to reproduce the female. Though over nutrition is a condition of anabolism, it is certainly a misconception to base the conclusion that somatic behavior could change the characteristics of the germ-cell. It is very likely that menstruation is the process of getting rid of the female organism of the reproductive anabolic surplus, as periodical nocturnal emission in man, which can he only utilized, in case of conception, for the fetal nutrition ; as likewise during lactation the nurs¬ ing mother does not menstruate, as the anabo¬ lic surplus is being transformed as an extra- uterine nutrition for the nursing baby in the form of milk. But anabolism is a condition of le over-nutrition, it is only so in the d; 38 / 594 ANCIENT HINDU MEDICINP sense. Over-feeding the female before concep¬ tion or during gestation can not make a catabo¬ lic ovum anabolic, nor can under-nutrition, change an anabolic ovum into catabolic. The anabolic or the catabolic state of the ovum depends on its internal vitality and the age of its maturity after ovulation. So the determination of sex, depending on so many delicate factors, as the i-elative age of the mother on which depends the vitality of the ovum, the age of the ovum at the time of impregnation on which depends its anabolism or catabolism, (the fourth day and the fifth day after menstruation being catabolic, from the fifth to eighth day anabolic, from eighth to fifteenth catabolic and later degenerative changes begin to take place), and the relative age of the father to the mother on which depends the vitality of the spermatozoon and w'^hich is sure in process of impregnation by its momentum to cause molecular changes in the ovum, can not positively with any certainty be calculated beforehand. And to this may be added the general anabolic and catabolic condi¬ tion of health. Reed emphasizes particularly on the point. Life having originated in the sea as ^gymmoytoda' or 'lapooytoda' from which must have developed nucleated cell, the germ- THERA.PEUTICS 595 plasm, the primitive ancestral cell, which it closely resembles, and which in its embryonic process of growth unfolds in quick recapitula¬ tion all the stages of evolution from the simple mono-cellular cell to the multi-cellular highly complex and well-differentianted human being, which must have taken in nature countless millions of years. Our cells still must not only live in an aquatic medium, but it must be a saline solution (blood and the lymph) like the sea¬ water. Menstruation is still regulated by the lunar cycle, whose tides diurnal, fortnightly and monthly (lunar month of 28 days) affected the primitive cell-life on the sea-coast for many millions of years, before it acclimatized to the land habitation. Life on the sea has been of infinitely longer duration than on the land. Vertebrata developed in the sea, as is represented in the fish. Menstruation is closely related with the ovulation—the liberation of the germ-cell which has retained all its primi¬ tive ancestral characteristics and is very likely, therefore, to be influenced by the lunar tide cycle. It is well known that diseases pass through crises at these lunar tidal periods, daily, fortnightly or monthly. Accordingly, it can be concluded that when the tide is high. 596 ANCIENT HINDU MEDICINE the germ-cell is likely to be in the catabolic tendency, being subject to the tension due to the cell-memory, and when the tide is low, it is in the anabolic state. The ovum impregnated therefore during the low-tide period, if it has not irretrievably passed into the catabolic state due to old age of the cell or of the devitalized condition of the parent, is likely to be a female and during the high tide in the catabolic trend of the germ cell, male. Physical Fitness : ‘'Copulation with a Avoman with full stomach, or with one who is hungry, thirsty, terrified, distressed, angered, or who desires some other person during the coitus, or suffers from nymphomania, is unproductive. Nor should one cohabit Avith a female that is too young, too old, or valetudinarian. This is also applicable to man. Only men and women who are free from all defects should copulate. Desirous of sexual embrace, mutually inclin¬ ed, the husband and the wife after taking delightful and stimulating refreshments, shall ascend the bed, perfumed, broad and comfortable, the husband by the right foot and the wife by the left foot, (and praying the gods to give them a heroic son ) they shall THERAPEDTICS 697 engage in connubial mysteries.” Gharaha V. 8. 5 . 6*8 la. Signs of Tvegnancy : “The following are the signs of conception: relaxation (as a pleasure- able reaction of the coitus), lassitude, thirst, fatigue of the tliighs, amenorrhea, and the engorgement of the vulva. (It is not easy to make a certein diagnosis of pregnancy before the fetal heart sounds are heard,or fetal movements felt in the fifth or the sixth month. But it is claimed that some multiparous women can fix the exact time and the copulation that results in conception by the intense voluptuous sensation they experience at the time of orgasm of the coitus. Usually 281 (a). fqcnftcn 511 o qq 1 (ft 5ncrn( 1 SOTgqqraqj gRt^ qwqitsT # ’qrctfqi (t^ qgftci, Ffirsifg mctr cqigvig ftvrgt (qigvig wqfgRt—- awt i *rits^ ga' gvtg t ti 598 ANCIKNT HINDL MEDICINE menstruation ceases after the conception takes- place. About two weeks after conception some women experience occasional qualm, even nausea or vomiting, when trying to make erect posture in the morning. Increased frequency of micturi¬ tion is a very common accompaniment of early pregnancy, due to the congestion of the vesical trigone, coincident with the physiological hyperemia of the uterine. The pigmentation' and the enlargement of the areola is noticed about the sixth week of gestation, accompanied by a tingling sensation of weight, fulness and firmness in the breasts,greater prominence of the nipples and the enlargement of the sebaceous follicles, and the appearance of blue veins round the darkened areola. Bluish circles are also ob¬ served round the eyes which become a little humid and deep-set. Digestive disturbiinces in many cases are noticed and there is salivation, heartburn or eructation accompanied by abnormal appetite or craving for acid, charcoal or earth. On separating the labia the vagina is found unusuallv moist and covered with whitish shreds of desquamated epithelium, and the anterior vaginal wall just under the urethra shows a dusky, purplish pigmentation). “The signs of pregnancy are the pigmentation THERAPEUTICS 599 of the areola, the development of the (sebaceous) follicles, pai’ticularly the (spasmic) contraction of the eye-lids, nausea, vomiting, irritability even at the pleasant smells, salivation and lassitude (linieae albicantes—white streaks of pigmentation round the navel, are sometimes noticed in the third month of pregnancy, and later they are observed in the breasts, lower abdomen and flanks ).” Susruta III. 3. 10-11=®-. True END. 282 . era ftfhra: ii HI-? q5T?-R f%c!r, ^ i i Works By Chandra Chakraberty 1. Food and Health— Contents ; I.—Elementary Composition of Foods, Principles of Nutrition, The Albuminous Foods, Ve^^etable Proteids, Carbohydrates, Fats, Vegetables, Fruits, Condiments and Stimulants, Water, Minerals, The Advantages and Disadvantages of a Vegetable Diet. II.—The Liver, Spleen, Pancreas, Kidney, Thyroid, Adrenals, Sexual Glands. 111 .—Malaria, Cholera, Sutica. IV.—Principles of Immunity, Immu¬ nity and Seruin-tkerapy, Organo-therapy, Fasting Cure. Influence of Faith and Optimism. pages. Re. 1-8 “The chapters on food are well-written and they contain a large amount of useful information regarding all kinds of daily food. The essay on “Sexual Glands’^ will repay perusal. The last five chapters on Immunity, Serum-therapy, Organo¬ therapy, Fasting Cure and Psyco-therapy give useful infor¬ mation within a short compass.”— The Modem Review (Sept. 1922). “As an Indian he (the author) deals with the problems of food and dietetics not only from western but also from the estern point of view.will be found useful to whom more expensive treatises are generally inaccessible.”— The Hindus¬ tan Review (Oct. 1923). “This is a useful guide to one who wants to understand the principles of dietetics and the food value of the various articles of diet used in this country. The author displays a fund of information on the subject and the book contains very valu¬ able materials gleaned from several sources which should serve to help the reader, so far can be of any use, in his attempts of fixing upon a proper dietary based upon scientific facts and,, rational principles. The first part of the book deals with the principles of nutrition, the elementary composition of foods, the different kinds and qualities of food, and their comparative advantages and disadvantages. The subject is so handled as be easily understood by the lay reader and the book is written with particular reference to Indian needs and conditions of life.