Susruta Samhita - Mandhata Global

INTRODUCTION.
of dead body (not of living body as proclaimed by
Herophilus), nay, the Avagharshana which brings into view
The knowledge
Vil
^^^ ^^^^""^ ^^ ^^^ epidermis and the
of the Molecular dermis, the number and branches of
Construction of the ., , . , , ,• u j
body is all that is blood-vessels and nerves that he embedwanted.
^^^ j^^ muscles, etc , is only necessary.
Professor Michael Foster's remarks in his article on
Physiology in the Encyclopedia Britannica, to all appearnces,
are just in the same line, if not identical with our extract,
when he says "that the problem of Physiology, in the future,
is largely concerned in arriving by experiment and infer-
ence, by the mind's eye, and not by the body's eye alone,
assisted, as that may be, by lenses yet to be introduced
at a knowledge of the molecular construction of the protean
protoplasm ; of the laws according to which it is built up
and the laws according to which it breaks down ; for these
laws when ascertained will clear up the mysteries of the
protean work which the protoplasm does."
In short the knowledge of the molecular construction of
the body is just the thing with which Biology is concerned,
and such is the unanimous verdict both in the East as well as
in the West, in the most ancient and in the most modern
Sciences of the world. Now, if the 'knowledge of the molecular
construction of the protoplasm, of the laws according to which
it is built up, and the laws according to which it breaks down,'
is all that is necessary for an accurate knowledge of Anatomy
and Physiology, our Ayurveda is pre-eminently the Science
we want.
The following extracts, from Charaka Samhita, are cited
here to prove that we are quite justified in our contention.
That is, the body is composed of molecules and these are
said to be numberless, because no body can count them up.