Page:A Short History of Aryan Medical Science.djvu/178

158 strength and perfectly regular. The capriciousness of the pulse produces other modifications very curiously described. It is interesting to note the similarity between this description of the pulse as found in the ancient Sanskrit treatises, and the doctrine of the pulse taught by the famous physician Galen, " who is the greatest and the best authority in Europe on the subject. For all subsequent writers have simply transferred his teaching on this subject bodily to their own works" (Dr Berdoe). Galen speaks of pulsus myurus (sharp-tailed pulse, so called as it sinks progressively and becomes smaller and smaller, like a mouse's tail) ; pulsus formicans (ant-like pulse, being scarcely perceptible, like the motion of an ant) ; pulsus dorcadisans (goat-leap pulse, as it seems to leap like a goat) ; pulsus fluctuosus (undulating), etc. This would suggest that Galen derived his knowledge on the subject from the works of Indian writers.

It has already been stated that certain kinds of diseases are believed to be caused by

"Damned spirits all, That in cross-ways and floods have burial."

The demon theory of disease, a prevalent feature in almost every popular creed, has some influence