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164 Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays. It is customary with some Vaidyas not to prescribe on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Saturdays — the first being particularly objectionable. Patients, on the other hand, avoid commencing treatment on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Saturdays, if they conveniently can. For purgatives or emetics Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Sundays, and for bloodletting Tuesdays and Sundays, are generally preferred.

After making the diagnosis, the physician forms an opinion as to the prognosis. Diseases are divided into three classes, namely, Sadhya (curable), Asadhya (incurable), and Yapya (controllable by remedies only). A patient suffering from a disease belonging to the last class remains well as long as he continues the use of medicine, but relapses as soon as the treatment is stopped, just as a tottering house collapses on the removal of the props. The physician is advised to refrain from treating a disease which is quite incurable.* The other two classes of diseases should be treated with all possible care and skill. In order to acquire success in his profession, the physician is expected to know both the theoretical and the practical sides of the science of medicine.