The Sushruta Samhita — trans. Bhishagratna

A wise physician shall have recourse to bleeding or venesection in these cases and the system of the patient should be cleansed by purgatives and emetics. 3.

General Treatment: -The general measures to be adopted in the case of a bite by a rat of whatsoever class are as follows :— The seat of the bite should be first cauterized (with boiling clarified butter), and blood-letting should be resorted to (by opening the veins of the patient). The seat of the bite should then be marked with superficial incisions and a plaster of S'irisha, Rajani, Kushtha, Kumkuma and Amrita (Gulancha) should be applied. The patient should be made to vomit with the decoction of Jdlini or with that of S'ukdkhyd and Amkotha boiled together. The (powdered) roots of S'ukdkhya, Kos'dvati, Madana fruits and Devaddli {ruits should be administered with curd for the elimination by vomiting the (internal) poison (if any). The patient should be made to take (with curd) the compound consisting of Phala (Madana), Vacha, Devaddli and Kushtha pasted with the urine of a cow (as an emetic). This remedy neutralises the effects of the poison of all species of venomous rats. 4.-A.

A compound composed of Trivrit, Danti and Tri-

* In place of "^TT^T^T ^f f^^'' some reads "^^5ip=nf%?2:fwr", While Jejjata reads *'^^»p^7mf%^Tl'"

p. 753

phald should (if necessary) be employed as a purgative (in such a case). A compound prepared with the pith of S'irisha and the pulp of its fruits should be used (if necessary) as an errhine (S'iro-virechana). The watery secretion of fresh cow-dung mixed with a profuse quantity of (powdered) Tri-katu should be used as collyrium. The patient should be made to lick a compound prepared with the expressed juice of the fruits of Kapittha and with honey and the serous secretion of (fresh) cow-dung, or a lambative made of Rasdnjana, Haridrd, Indra-yava, Katuki and Ati-vishd with honey should be given to the patient in the morning. A potion of medicated clarified butter duly cooked with the roots of Tanduliyaka should be given to the patient for drink. As an alternative, clarified butter, duly cooked with the five parts {:uiz., roots, bark, fruits, leaves and flowers) of a Kapittha tree or with the roots of Ashphotd^ should be prescribed, 4.

As an alternative, clarified butter, duly cooked with the five parts {:uiz., roots, bark, fruits, leaves and flowers) of a Kapittha tree or with the roots of Ashphotd^ should be prescribed, 4.

The poison of a venomous Mushika (rat or mole) even though (apparently) eliminated from the system may sometimes still be aggravated in cloudy days or in foul weather. In such a case, all the above measures as well as the remedies laid down under the treatment of DusM-visha should be resorted to. The round protruding edges (Karnikd) of an ulcer, incidental to a rat-bite, whether benumbed or painful, should be excised (D.R. — made to suppurate) and should be treated with purifying or cleasing remedies according to the deranged Dosha or Doshas involved in each case. 5-6.

Causes of Rabies:— The bodily Vdyu in conjunction with the (aggravated) Kapha of a jackal, dog, wolf, bear, tiger or of any other such ferocious beast affects the sensory nerves of these animals and overwhelms their instinct and consciousness. The

p. 734

THE SUSHRUTA SAMHITA. [Chap. VI.

tails, jaw-bones (D. R. — neck) and shoulders of such infurated animals naturally droop down, attended with a copious flow of saliva from their mouths. The beasts in such a state of frenzy, blinded and deafened by rage, roam about and bite each other. 7-A.

Symptoms of Hydrophobia :-The limb

or part of the body of a person bitten by such a rabid and (consequently) poisonous animal loses its sensibility of touch, and a copious flow of dark sooty blood is emitted from the seat of the bite. The patient in such a case generally exhibits all the symptoms which mark a case of poisoning by a venomed arrow. 7-B.

Prognosis :— A person bitten by a rabid ani* mal barks and howls like the animal by which he is bitten, imitates it in many other ways and, bereft of the specific functions and faculties of a human subject, ultimately dies. If a person, bitten by a rabid animal, sees its (imaginary) image reflected in water or in a mirror, he should be deemed to have reached an unfavourable stage of the disease. 7-C.

Symptoms of Jala-tr^Csa :— If the patient in such a case becomes exceedingly frightened at the sight or mention of the very name of water, he should be understood to have been afflicted with Jala-trsisa (Hydrophobia) and be deemed to have been doomed. Such a case of Jala-trdsa (water-scare) even in an unbitten person or in a healthy person, if frightened (by such a scare), whether waking or in sleep, should be regarded as a fatal symptom. 7.

Such a case of Jala-trdsa (water-scare) even in an unbitten person or in a healthy person, if frightened (by such a scare), whether waking or in sleep, should be regarded as a fatal symptom. 7.

Treatment S— in the case of a bite by a rabid animal, the seat of the biteWhould be profusely bled (by pressing it) so as to let out all the (vitiated) blood. It should then be cauterized with (boiling) clarified butter and pasted with any of the aforesaid Agada,p. 735 or the patient should be made to drink a potion of matured clarified butter. Clarified butter mixed with the milky exudation of an Arka plant, as well as a compound of white Punarnavd^ and Dhuttura^ should be prescribed for the patient as an errhine. 8- A,

Treatment of bites by rabid dogs :—

A compound of pasted sesamum mixed with its oil, treacle and the (milky) juice of a Rupikd plant eliminates the poison of a rabid dog (Alarka) from the system as a gale of wind drives a pack of clouds before it. A quantity of rice, two Tolas (one Karsha) in weight of the roots of S' ara-pumkha and half a Karsha weight of Dhuttura (roots) should be pasted together with the washings of rice. The paste should be covered with (seven) Dhustura leaves and baked (on the fire) in the shape of an Apupaka (cake). The cake thus prepared should be given, at the proper time of taking a medicine, to a person bitten by a rabid dog for a complete nullification of the poison. But the use of these cakes is attended with certain other troubles at the time of their digestion and these troubles become subdued by a retiring to in a dry but cool chamber away from water. The patient (after the subsidence of the troubles) should be bathed the next day and a diet of boiled S'dli or Shashtika rice with tepid milkj should be prescribed for him. On the third and on the fifth day, the aforesaid anti-venomous compound should again be administered in half doses to the patient for the elimination of the poison. 8-B.

* Some explain **S'vetd Punarnavd" to mean "white Punarnavd", but others explain it to mean "S'veti (Katabhi) and Punarnavd".

t Some commentators prescribe tie roots of Dhustura to be taken, while others hold that its fruits shcilfla be used.

% Dallana says that in place of "'^tt'^T* Gayaddsa reads "iTW'n^^^j tliat is to say, the diet should be taken with clarified butter.

p. 736