Page:A Short History of Aryan Medical Science.djvu/103

VI.] performs other functions (of nourishing and strengthening)."

Again : Yada tu hupitam raktam Sevate svavahas shiras, Tadasya vividha roga Jayante raktasambhavas.

"When defective blood circulates through its vessels it causes many blood diseases."

Similar passages can be transcribed from even earlier writers. But the above quotations are enough to satisfy a casual reader that the circulation of the blood was not unknown to the early Aryans.

(flesh) is blood digested by heat and thickened by wind. This also produces Peshi (muscle). There are five hundred muscles in the body of a male. In females there are four hundred and ninety-seven.

(fat) is produced by the digestion of the flesh by the internal fire. Its principal seat is in the abdomen.

(bone) is fat digested by the internal fire and thickened by the wind. According to Sushruta, there are 300 bones in the body. Charaka includes the cartilages of the ears, eye-