Page:A Short History of Aryan Medical Science.djvu/63

IV.], a ceremony on the student's completion of his studies and return home after having passed thirty-six, eighteen, or at least nine years in statu pupillari:* , marriage : the last is , or the funeral rite. Besides the above there are other ceremonies which are performed either daily, monthly, yearly, or occasionally, the object of all of them being more or less the preservation of health both of body and mind. Any discomfort in the body is called a disease. Diseases are classed under four heads, viz., (accidental), such as a fall or a cut ;  (physical), such as headache, fever, dysentery, cough, etc, ;  (mental), as insanity, fear, grief;  (natural), as thirst, hunger, sleep. Entire freedom from these, by the application of proper remedies, is the avowed object of medical science. The prevention of disease is considered by the Hindoos to be of greater importance than its cure. Accordingly, their medical works lay great stress on certain rules of conduct to be observed all the year round. As these precepts enable us to peep into the principles of Hygiene as understood by the ancients, it will be well now to devote some space to a short summary of them.