Page:Sushruta Samhita Vol 1.djvu/218

114 wrong incision, or with full exposure to cold and wind, or performed on a patient not previously diaphorised, or on a patient with an empty stomach, is attended with little or no outflow of blood owing to the thickened condition of the blood.

Authoritative verse on the subject:—Blood-letting surgically performed on a fatigued or exhausted subject, or on a person in a swoon, or anyway poisoned or intoxicated, or on a person suffering from extreme constipation of the bowels accompanied by suppression of the flatus (Vayu) and urine, or on a person of timid disposition, or on one overcome with sleep, is marked by the absence of any outflow of blood.

The vitiated blood, failing to find out an outlet, gives rise to itching, swelling, redness, burning, suppuration and pain in the part (to which it is confined). On the contrary, blood-letting performed on the body of a person excessively diaphorised or heated, or by an ignorant or inexperienced surgeon, or with an injudiciously deep incision, is attended with haemorrhage, which may be followed by such dreadful results as Shirobhitapa or violent headache, blindness or loss of sight (Timria), Adhimantham (ophthalmia), loss of vital principles of the body (Dhatu-Kshaya), convulsions, paralysis (Ekanga Vikara), Hemiplegia (Pakshaghata), thirst, a burning sensation, hic-cough, cough, asthma, jaundice and even death.