Page:Sushruta Samhita Vol 1.djvu/327

Chap.XXIII.] calculi (Shikata) in which the urine is found to be charged with concretions, or leaves a deposit of sandy sediment, can not be radically cured by medicine alone. A case of Vata-kundalika, Asthila, Upakusha, Kantha-saluka, Danta-sharkara, Danta-veshta, visarpa, Asthi-kshata, Uru-kshata, or Vrana-Granthi, may not perfectly yield to medicine alone. In an inflammation of the gums resulting from the use of poisonous twigs as brushes for teeth (Nishkoshana) a temporary amelioration is all that can be expected from a good and efficient treatment.

Metrical texts:—In a patient neglecting a disease at its preliminary stage, (or otherwise not observing a strict regimen) even a curable malady may speedily develop into one which admits only of palliative measures, while a disease of the last named type is soon transformed into an incurable one. An incurable disease under the circumstances speedily finds a fatal termination. A patient laid up with a disease, which only admits of a palliative treatment, lives so long as the course of the medical treatment is continued, and will die almost simultaneously with its discontinuance. Just as a prop or a pillar can prevent the collapse of a tumbling edifice, so palliative measures, judiciously applied by a skilful physician, may keep off the inevitable in a disease which knows no radical cure.

Incurable diseases:—Now we shall de-