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1From whatever standpoint we look to the question, we find there are grounds to lead any one to pronounce in our favour and to come to the conclusion at which we now venture to arrive. Besides these two important facts, we now cite the following passage as Internal evidence- , • . , • j • r r a strong internal evidence in favour of our view. Maharshi Punarvasu, after giving us a short table of the principal structures of the human body, remarks that even this reference is considered by many as superfluous, Reasons for omit- ^'^ ^^^ g'"^""^' '^^' '" acquaintance ting Descriptive with the molecular construction of an organism is quite suflScient to help us as a reliable guide to treatment. The passage referred to is quoted below : — Now we ask the reader if this is not a sufificient evidence, proving to the hilt, that Ayurveda is nothing but Biology and that we run no risk of committing a grave omission if the chapter on Anatomy is wholesale dispensed with from Ayurveda. For the improvement of this awkward position — that in the section of Anatomy there should be no Anatomy — the entire credit is due to Susruta, as he has very wisely made the suggestion, that a knowledge of the anatomical structures of the body is of great value, at least so far as it VI INTRODUCTION. helps the Surgeons and the Surgeons only in their operations.* But so far as Biology is concerned with medicine, Susruta does not forget to lay particular stress on the knowledge of the molecular construction of the body. The following memorable passages actually preached by this renowned Surgeon, some three hundred centuries ago, still stands as a model from which modern Science, even in its present advancement, can draw inspirations. He says : — 1. ST 31,^ ^^qr ?^' t% fl^ff^ f%->^: I
2^^rTMT ^'f^^NTgiT^^ri f^: II 2. fT«iTf%:¥3!a Tii^ ^=srT si^^ ^^ctt i siteflifgT 'Jft ^PRiJr ?^^s^^f^?i: ii iif?r^ f^ ^. 1^ ^re??^^ ??ftfi I ?f?TrefT¥^^?i ^^] TlTTf%qtf ?T II That is, the protean work of the protoplasm in which the great Self resides cannot be detected by the body's eye ; to know its work, mind's eye is necessary, along with the body's eye. For acquiring efficiency in Surgery alone, the dissection * Susruta recommends dissection on dead human bodies and suggests that it is only required of those who will practise surgery and that students of medicine can do without it. Herophilus practised dissection on living bodies and with the object of practising medicine suceessfuUy, but it soon fell into disrepute and did not at all influence the art of Medicine, He was condemmed even by his own pupil Philinus of cos who declared that all the Anatomy his vivisecting master had taught him had not helped him in the least in the cure of his patients. Such indeed was the fate of vivisection for which Europe now takes pride. But Susruta's, Avagharshana is now considered by many as the only perfect mode of dissection ever known. It is with the help of this method of dissection that the layers of epidermis and dermis could be discovered and blood-vessels with their minute branches could be counted to be as many as thirty millions. Not only this, but also in the opinion of several European savants, Susruta still stands as a model of surgery and European surgery has borrowed many things from Susruta and has yet many things to learn. INTRODUCTION. Vil of dead body (not of living body as proclaimed by Herophilus), nay, the Avagharshana which brings into view The knowledge ^^^ ^^^^""^ ^^ ^^^ epidermis and the of the Molecular dermis, the number and branches of
3Construction of the ., , . , , ,• u j body is all that is blood-vessels and nerves that he embedwanted. ^^^ j^^ muscles, etc , is only necessary. Professor Michael Foster's remarks in his article on Physiology in the Encyclopedia Britannica, to all appearnces, are just in the same line, if not identical with our extract, when he says "that the problem of Physiology, in the future, is largely concerned in arriving by experiment and inference, by the mind's eye, and not by the body's eye alone, assisted, as that may be, by lenses yet to be introduced at a knowledge of the molecular construction of the protean protoplasm ; of the laws according to which it is built up and the laws according to which it breaks down ; for these laws when ascertained will clear up the mysteries of the protean work which the protoplasm does." In short the knowledge of the molecular construction of the body is just the thing with which Biology is concerned, and such is the unanimous verdict both in the East as well as in the West, in the most ancient and in the most modern Sciences of the world. Now, if the 'knowledge of the molecular construction of the protoplasm, of the laws according to which it is built up, and the laws according to which it breaks down,' is all that is necessary for an accurate knowledge of Anatomy and Physiology, our Ayurveda is pre-eminently the Science we want. The following extracts, from Charaka Samhita, are cited here to prove that we are quite justified in our contention. That is, the body is composed of molecules and these are said to be numberless, because no body can count them up. Vlll INTRODUCTION.
The source text as printed, transcribed diplomatically. Where the source language uses a non-Latin script that reaches us only through a Victorian romanisation, this layer is labelled transliteration, because that is what we hold.
1From whatever standpoint we look to the question, we find there are grounds to lead any one to pronounce in our favour and to come to the conclusion at which we now venture to arrive. Besides these two important facts, we now cite the following passage as Internal evidence- , • . , • j • r r a strong internal evidence in favour of our view. Maharshi Punarvasu, after giving us a short table of the principal structures of the human body, remarks that even this reference is considered by many as superfluous, Reasons for omit- ^'^ ^^^ g'"^""^' '^^' '" acquaintance ting Descriptive with the molecular construction of an organism is quite suflScient to help us as a reliable guide to treatment. The passage referred to is quoted below : — Now we ask the reader if this is not a sufificient evidence, proving to the hilt, that Ayurveda is nothing but Biology and that we run no risk of committing a grave omission if the chapter on Anatomy is wholesale dispensed with from Ayurveda. For the improvement of this awkward position — that in the section of Anatomy there should be no Anatomy — the entire credit is due to Susruta, as he has very wisely made the suggestion, that a knowledge of the anatomical structures of the body is of great value, at least so far as it VI INTRODUCTION. helps the Surgeons and the Surgeons only in their operations.* But so far as Biology is concerned with medicine, Susruta does not forget to lay particular stress on the knowledge of the molecular construction of the body. The following memorable passages actually preached by this renowned Surgeon, some three hundred centuries ago, still stands as a model from which modern Science, even in its present advancement, can draw inspirations. He says : — 1. ST 31,^ ^^qr ?^' t% fl^ff^ f%->^: I
2^^rTMT ^'f^^NTgiT^^ri f^: II 2. fT«iTf%:¥3!a Tii^ ^=srT si^^ ^^ctt i siteflifgT 'Jft ^PRiJr ?^^s^^f^?i: ii iif?r^ f^ ^. 1^ ^re??^^ ??ftfi I ?f?TrefT¥^^?i ^^] TlTTf%qtf ?T II That is, the protean work of the protoplasm in which the great Self resides cannot be detected by the body's eye ; to know its work, mind's eye is necessary, along with the body's eye. For acquiring efficiency in Surgery alone, the dissection * Susruta recommends dissection on dead human bodies and suggests that it is only required of those who will practise surgery and that students of medicine can do without it. Herophilus practised dissection on living bodies and with the object of practising medicine suceessfuUy, but it soon fell into disrepute and did not at all influence the art of Medicine, He was condemmed even by his own pupil Philinus of cos who declared that all the Anatomy his vivisecting master had taught him had not helped him in the least in the cure of his patients. Such indeed was the fate of vivisection for which Europe now takes pride. But Susruta's, Avagharshana is now considered by many as the only perfect mode of dissection ever known. It is with the help of this method of dissection that the layers of epidermis and dermis could be discovered and blood-vessels with their minute branches could be counted to be as many as thirty millions. Not only this, but also in the opinion of several European savants, Susruta still stands as a model of surgery and European surgery has borrowed many things from Susruta and has yet many things to learn. INTRODUCTION. Vil of dead body (not of living body as proclaimed by Herophilus), nay, the Avagharshana which brings into view The knowledge ^^^ ^^^^""^ ^^ ^^^ epidermis and the of the Molecular dermis, the number and branches of
3Construction of the ., , . , , ,• u j body is all that is blood-vessels and nerves that he embedwanted. ^^^ j^^ muscles, etc , is only necessary. Professor Michael Foster's remarks in his article on Physiology in the Encyclopedia Britannica, to all appearnces, are just in the same line, if not identical with our extract, when he says "that the problem of Physiology, in the future, is largely concerned in arriving by experiment and inference, by the mind's eye, and not by the body's eye alone, assisted, as that may be, by lenses yet to be introduced at a knowledge of the molecular construction of the protean protoplasm ; of the laws according to which it is built up and the laws according to which it breaks down ; for these laws when ascertained will clear up the mysteries of the protean work which the protoplasm does." In short the knowledge of the molecular construction of the body is just the thing with which Biology is concerned, and such is the unanimous verdict both in the East as well as in the West, in the most ancient and in the most modern Sciences of the world. Now, if the 'knowledge of the molecular construction of the protoplasm, of the laws according to which it is built up, and the laws according to which it breaks down,' is all that is necessary for an accurate knowledge of Anatomy and Physiology, our Ayurveda is pre-eminently the Science we want. The following extracts, from Charaka Samhita, are cited here to prove that we are quite justified in our contention. That is, the body is composed of molecules and these are said to be numberless, because no body can count them up. Vlll INTRODUCTION.
The source text as printed, transcribed diplomatically. Where the source language uses a non-Latin script that reaches us only through a Victorian romanisation, this layer is labelled transliteration, because that is what we hold.
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