Page:Sushruta Samhita Vol 1.djvu/474

370 It is needless to say that the hypothesis is based on erroneous data, inasmuch as the fact of acid digestion (acid taste developed at the close of the digestive process or reactionary acidity) is contrary both to the properties of matter and the collective experience of the race embodied in the dictum of the Shastras, and which should be rather ascribed to the acid taste of the Pittam remaining in an undigested or unassimilated condition owing to imperfect gastric digestion. The probability of a saline digestion (a reactionary saline taste following upon the close of the digestive process) should be necessarily presumed, if the fact of an acid digestion were to be upheld as a tested and corroborated principle of medical science. The hypothesis of an acid digestion (reactionary acidity) does not preclude the possibility of a similar saline one owing to the participation of the natural taste (saline) of the bodily Kapham in the process of digestion, as is said of Pittam in the preceding instance. Hence the theory that only three tastes, such as sweet,acid, and pungent are developed through digestive reaction, appears to be untenable, and naturally points to the doctrine that a sweet taste (partaken of by a man) brings on a sweet tasted digestion; an acid taste (reactionary acidity) begets acid digestion, and so on, a taste of whatsoever kind partaken of by a man imparting its specific character to his digestive reaction.