Page:Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal Vol 1.djvu/611

1832.] VI. — On the Indications of the Pulse according to the Hindus.

[Translated from the 2nd Section of the Oushudha-vall, a Medical Treatise in the Bhaka language ; by Raja Kalikishen Behadur.] The treatise, from which the following extract is made as a specimen of orien- tal notions on medical subjects, professes to be a compilation from the A'yur Veda, Abadhouta, Parvatl, Sakuni, Dev&guya, Bhoja-Shastra, Tantra Purdna, and other works, arranged in the Bhaka tongue for the use of practitioners. It was printed in Calcutta in 1826, and its doctrines are of course prevalent at the present day among all those who have not bad the advantage of a medical education after the European system. I have thought its publication might be interesting as a matter of curiosity.

Much consideration is required to judge of a man's constitution, by the pulse ; and in some cases it is requisite to feel the pulse of both his arms ; for when the pulsation is found to be the same in either arm, the inference is the existence of bodily equanimity : that part of the arm which is just above the joint of the hand is the place where the pulse is to be felt by the application of four fingers.

The following are the names by which the four navel strings are distinguished ; namely, phlegmatic, bilious, flatulent, and sanguineous. The fingers to be applied are the fore fingers, and the others arranged in due order. If the motion of the pulse felt by the fore fingers be ser- pentine, and directed upwards, it must be inferred, that the patient's bile, blood, and interior are in a good state. If the pulse rise in a horny form, above the semi-knuckle, it will then be a sure sign of flatulency in the stomach, occasioning pain and giddiness of the head ; but if it throb in the manner a wood-pecker picks grains, the indica- tion will be a bilious disease.

If it be swelled, and rise up, phlegm and bile are to be understood as predominant, and should its motion in this condition be very quick, it will be a sign of fever ; but if, in a swelled state, the pulsation should descend towards the other semi-knuckle, phlegmatic fever will appear to have ensued. If the pulse be faint, a superabundance of heat in the bowels will be indicated ; if it be nearly impalpable, or if it should vibrate at one time upwards, and down at another, this will signify costiveness ; when it becomes cold and weak, phlegm will prevail ; if it run up and down frequently, flatulence and obstructed excretion ; if the motion be like that of a lapwing, it will show the rise of a morbid state of the humours ; and if the pulse become thick from being very hurried, it will quickly languish, and cause death.

When the pulse felt by the middle finger ascends in a thin faint form, or beats the upper semi-knuckle, like a wood-pecker, a bilious