Page:Sushruta Samhita Vol 1.djvu/180

76 by an ulcer in its critical stage (Arishta) should be determined with the help of the organ of smell.

While such facts as the time or season (of the first appearance) of the disease, the caste which the patient belongs to, and things or measures which tend to bring about a manifest amelioration of the disease, or prove comfortable to the patient (Sátmyam) as well as the cause of the disease, the aggravation of pain, the strength of the patient, and his state of digestion and appetite, the emission of stool, urine and flatus, or their stoppage, and the maturity of the disease as regards time, should be specifically ascertained by directly interrogating the patient (on those subjects). Though the abovesaid five organs of sense, like the three fundamental vital humours, help us to make the correct diagnosis of a disease, still the objects locally perceived by these senses should not be left out of account in ascertaining its specific nature.

Authoritative verse on the subject:—A disease wrongly observed or incorrectly described, or wrongly diagnosed, is sure to mislead a physician.

Having made these observations the physician will try to cure diseases that are curable, adopt palliative measures in cases where palliation is the only remedy that can be offered, and give up a case which is beyond