Page:A History of Hindu Chemistry Vol 1.djvu/192

42 exprimer les cendres et les matériaux salpêtrés: le passage suivant, tiré du manuscrit de Saint-Marc, montre que ces procédés remontent au XIe siècle et sans doute au delà." "Chimie des Anciens" p. 284.

"The four varieties of food derived from the five elements and having the six tastes, the two properties of heat and cold or according to some, eight properties and many qualtities [sic] when taken in moderation and thoroughly digested, produces a fine substance imbued with energy and fire. This is called rasa (chyle). The heart is the seat of the rasa or chyle. From the heart it proceeds through 24 arteries, namely, ten ascending, ten descending, and four transverse to all parts of the body. By some unseen cause or destiny, this chyle continually satiates, increases, nourishes and supports the body and keeps it alive. The motion of this chyle throughout the body is inferred form the processes of decline, increase, and diseased condition of the different portions of the body. It may be asked whether this chyle which pervades all the external parts of the body, the three humours, the tissues,