Page:A Short History of Aryan Medical Science.djvu/100

92 seven more essential parts or supporters of the body are enumerated, and are called Dhatus, or the constituent parts. They are Rasa (lymph-chyle), Rakta (blood), Mansa (flesh), Medas (fat), Asthi (bone), Majja (marrow) and Shukra (semen). Their respective functions are to cause pleasure by circulation, to energise, to plaster, to lubricate, to support, to fill the cavity of the bones, and to propagate.

As has been stated above, the Rasa, which permeates the whole body by circulating through the Dhamanies, is a nutritive fluid extracted by intestinal absorption from the food which has been subjected to the action of the digestive organs. It is purely white, sweet, and cooling, and keeps a man in good spirits. When the fluid in its circulating course enters the spleen and the liver, its white colour turns to red, and it is then known by the name of "blood." Blood is formed into flesh, flesh into fat, fat into bone, bone into marrow, and marrow into semen. Rasa, when defective, becomes acrid or acid, and engenders diseases, sometimes poisoning the whole system.

(blood), which is heavier than Rasa, also circulates in the vessels assigned to it. This theory of the motion of the blood through the