Page:A Short History of Aryan Medical Science.djvu/96

88 diseases of the rectum, urethra, bladder and seminal disorders.

Vyana pervades the whole body, and energises it by conveying the fluids over the different parts. It produces the flow of sweat and blood, and the various movements of the body are all dependent on it. Any derangement of it gives rise to all sorts of bodily complaints. "If all the five kinds of wind are diseased the body perishes." Some writers recognise five more vital airs, and call them Naga, Koorma, Krikala, Devadatta, and Dhananjaya, their respective functions being eructation, nictation, sternutation, yawning and inflation of a corpse.

PITTA is naturally hot, liquid, yellow, bitter, but acid when vitiated, light and oily. It produces animal heat, and is of five kinds.

Pachaka — its situation is between the stomach and the small intestines (Pakvashaya), which are the seat of the fire of digestion. It assists digestion and imparts heat to the whole body and separates the nourishing juice (Rasa) and dejecta. Native writers do not seem to be unanimous in their opinion about the nature of the "fire of digestion." In the opinion of some, this bile and the bodily fire are identical ; others think