Indian Medicine (Medicin), translated by C. G. Kashikar c12.61

c12.61

sinking of basic elements of human body like the generative element, vitality etc. and injurious food and drink. According to another version consumption arises out of sexual extravagance, anxiety, old age, physical exertions, distant travels, ulcers and wounds in the chest (Su 6.41.16). Signs in the beginning are : cold, sneezing, phlegm, sweet taste in the mouth, feebleness of digestion and of body, loss of appetite, nausea for eating certain articles of food, vomiting, general debility in spite of taking food, swelling of the feet and mouth, whiteness of the eyes, desire for women, spirituous drinks and flesh, dissension, unusual growth of nails and hair, the patient is pursued in dream by moths, lizards, serpents, apes, birds and beasts of prey etc. Then follow the eleven characteristic symptoms of consumption : cold, difficult breathing, cough, pain in the shoulders and in head, loss of appetite if the disease has its place in the upper region, vomiting if it is in the bowels, pain in the sides if it is in the sides, fever if it rests in the joints (AS, AHr). Another enumeration mentions : pain in the shoulders and sides, burning of hands and feet, fever in the whole body (MN 113 f). Su 6.41.11 distinguishes six symptoms : dislike for food, fever, dyspnoea, cough, bloody excrement and hoarseness. A consumptive due to old age is lean, debilitated, weak in intelligence, physical strength and senses, trembling, without appetite, his voice becomes thin like beats on a broken metal-pot, his saliva contains no phlegm, he is troubled by heaviness and uneasiness, a discharge comes out of his mouth, nose and eyes, his stools and skin are dry and rough. In ulceration (kṣata) in the chest which is caused by excessive movements, carrying load, reading (loudly), shock or strokes, sexual extravagance or (other) overexertions, there appear blood, faeces and phlegm, the patient vomits yellow, red, black and brown in coughing, his chest aches and he feels himself very miserable by heat in the body, his mouth and breath smell bad, the colour of his skin becomes pale and his voice is broken (Su 6.41.17-27).