Part 7

"The whole passage appears to me so curious that I make no apology for giving you a faithful translation of it:--

"There is a strong propensity which dances through every atom, and attracts the minutest particle to some peculiar object; search this universe from its base to its summit, from fire to air, from water to earth (the four elements!), from all below the moon to all above the celestial spheres, and thou wilt not find a corpuscle destitute of that natural attractability. The very point of the first thread in this apparently tangled skein is no other than such a principle of attraction, and all principles beside are void of a real basis: from such a propensity arises every motion perceived in heavenly or in terrestrial bodies; it is a disposition to be attracted which taught hard steel to rush from its place and rivet itself on the magnet; it is the same disposition which impels the light straw to attach itself firmly on amber; it is this quality which gives every substance in nature a tendency towards another, and an inclination forcibly directed to a determinate point."

In Sir W. Ainslie's Materia Medica of India the opinion of an old Hindoo author is given as to the qualifications required in a physician.

"He must be a person of strict veracity, and of the greatest sobriety and decorum: he ought to be skilled in all the commentaries on the 'Ayur-Veda,' and be otherwise a man of sense and benevolence: his heart must be charitable, his temper calm, and his constant study how to do good.

"Such a man is properly called a good physician, and such a physician ought still daily to improve his mind by an attentive perusal of scientific books.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * *

"Should death come upon us while under the care of a person of this description, it can only be considered as inevitable fate, and not the consequence of presumptuous ignorance."

The knowledge of the Hindoos may be all said to be contained in their sacred books called the Vedas, which, although perfect as a whole, are actually divided into four parts, each in itself constituting a separate Veda under a special title. These are the Rig-Veda, the Yajur-Veda (white and black), the Sama-Veda, and the Atharva-Veda, or Ayur-Veda. Although the last is admitted to be as a whole not so ancient as the other three, still there are portions of it that are probably as old as any of the others. Even in the oldest epic poems of the Hindoos mention is made of four Vedas as already in existence and as of great antiquity. Sir William Jones estimates the date of its compilation as certainly not after B.C. 1580.

These Vedas are considered by the Hindoos to contain the groundwork of all their philosophy, as well as of their arts and sciences, and they contain treatises on music, medicine, the art of war, and architecture.

Sir William Jones, in referring to the Ayur-Veda, says that, to his astonishment, he found in it an entire Upanishad on the internal parts of the human body, enumerating the nerves, veins, and arteries.

The Ayur-Veda was considered by the Brahmins to be the work of Brahma--by him it was communicated to Dacsha, the Prajapati, and by him, the two Aswins, or sons of Surya--the sun--were instructed in it, and thus became the medical attendants of the gods. A legend that cannot but recall to our mind the Greek myth of the two sons of Æsculapius and their descent from Apollo.

In the case of immortal gods the practice was confined to surgery, in treating the wounds received in the conflicts which were constantly described as occurring amongst the gods themselves, or between the gods and the demons. Of course they performed many miraculous cures, as would be expected from their superhuman character.

Professor Wilson published in the Oriental Magazine, in 1823, some notices on early Hindoo Medicine, and he points out that the tradition is, that the above "two Aswins instructed Indra in medical and surgical art, that Indra instructed Dahnwantari; although others make Atreya, Bharadwaja, and Charaka prior to the latter:--Charaka's work, which goes by his name, is extant. Dahnwantari is also styled Kasi-rajah, or Prince of Kasi, or Benares. His disciple was Susruta, his work also exists."

The Ayur-Veda, as the oldest medical writings of the Hindoos are collectively called, was divided into eight divisions. These are described by Professor Wilson as follows:--

"1st. Salya.--The art of extracting extraneous substances, violently or accidentally introduced into the body, with the treatment of the inflammation and suppuration thereby induced.

"The word Salya means a dart or arrow, and points clearly to the origin of this branch of Hindoo science.

"2nd. Salakya.--The treatment of external affections or diseases of the eyes, nose, ears, &c.

"3rd, Kayao Chikitsa.--The general application of medicine to the body, or the science of medicine, as opposed to surgery under the two first heads.

"4th. Bhutavidya, or demonology: the act of casting out demons, which we may take to mean the treatment of insanity, such as it was.

"5th. Kaumara bhritya, or the treatment of the diseases of women and children.

"6th. Agada.--The administration of antidotes.

"We do not appreciate this as an eastern nation would when poison was only too common an instrument of ambition or revenge.

"7th. Rasayana.--Is chemistry, or perhaps it were better to say alchemy, as its chief aim was the study of combinations of substances mostly metallurgic, with a view of obtaining the universal medicine or elixir which was to give immortal life.

"8th. Bajikarana.--Was connected with the means of promoting the increase of the human race."

One of the articles of Hindoo medicine was Kshara or alkaline salts,--these are directed to be obtained by burning different substances of vegetable origin, boiling the ashes with five or six times their measure of water and filtering the solution, which was used both internally and externally. Care is enjoined in their use, and emollient applications are to be used if the caustic should occasion great pain.

I have already spoken of the fact of Indian physicians having been at the Court of Persia, and also at that of Haroun al Raschid, and also that the ancient writers on medicine were known to the Arabs of the time of the schools of Baghdad and Cordova. There is no manner of doubt concerning this fact, as in Serapion's works we find Charak actually mentioned by name; under the head De Mirobalanis we find "Et Xarch indus dixit;" and again, in another section "Xarcha indus;" there being no corresponding sound to che in Arabic, there is a slight change in the name, but it is quite clear what it is intended for. In Avicenna, again, we find reference to "Scirak indum." Rhazes, again, who was previous to Avicenna, has "Inquit Scarac indianus," and again "Dixit Sarac;" in another place an Indian author is quoted, who has not as yet been traced, "Sindifar," or, as it is in another place, "Sindichar indianus."

Professor Wilson, in a notice on the medical science of the Hindoos, published in the Oriental Magazine, examines into the distinctive qualities of the various sorts of leeches, and shows that the description given in Avicenna, in the section "De Sanguisugis," is almost identical with the Hindoo author's description of the twelve sorts of leeches, in distinguishing the appearance and properties of the various sorts.

That this is more than a mere coincidence is clear from the fact that Avicenna says "Indi dixerunt."