Studies in the Medicine of Ancient India, Part I: Osteology, or the Bones of the Human Body c6.s1.t9.5

c6.s1.t9.5

4. There is a difficulty with respect to the total of the listed bones. According to the introductory clause of the list, its total should be 360, but the addition of its items actually works out a total of 362. It is obvious that there must be a defect somewhere in the list. The probability, as will be shown in the sequel (§ 66), is that the defect lies in No. 28 a, b, c. The real text of the clause expressing that item must have run similarly to that in the list of Charaka (§ 4); and instead of a nasal bone, and a bone for the prominences of the jaw and of the brows respectively (i. e. three bones altogether), it must have spoken of but one bone, that is, a single complex bone, including all three organs: nose, prominences, and brows. With this correction we obtain the correct total 360.