Page:Sushruta Samhita Vol 1.djvu/44

 protoplasm is insanity. Cimemically examined protoplasm is but, C, O, H, N and S. But no amount of C, O, H, N and S put together will constitute life. The idea that life has nothing prior to it, that the force which controls the co-ordination of man's economy perished with the death of his organism, is quite puerile. Life is expansion and not creation, and, as such, is linked to those unseen realities which constitute its prior and future selves. We see only the middle link in the chain of existence which we call life, but take no notice of the preceding or succeeding ones which are invisible (i). The grosser material body is linked to a finer, immaterial one, in as much as nothing can exist without being attached to its antecedent. So at each conception there is the influx of a new self, for the lifeless constituents of a human body can not create a man, no matter how many chemical or physiological actions may be postulated to run to their rescue.

Ayurvedic Embryology : — Before entering into the discussion of Sushruta's theory of conception, we shall take a little more trouble to enunciate fully the Vedic theories on the subject. "The child is the fruit of the combination of sperm and ovum" (2}. It lies with its head downward inside the uterus, a fact which facilitates its passage out of, and protects its form from the effects of any injury done to that viscus. (3) The eyes of the child are orignated,

(1) Bhagavat Gita II. 28.

(2) Astánga Hriidayam (Vádbaht) Shárira Sthánam. Ch I. 1.