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Hindu Achievements in Exact Science: A Study in the History of Scientific Development c20: XIV. Anatomy and Physiology

Hindu Achievements in Exact Science: A Study in the History of Scientific Development c20

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English

Contents

XIV. Anatomy and Physiology

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HIPPOCRATES, the founder of Greek medicine, was unacquainted with anatomy and physiology. His ignorance was due to the superstitious respect which the Greeks paid to their dead.²⁹ But the fathers of Hindu medicine were remarkably accurate in some of their observations and descriptions.

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The Hindus have described 500 muscles—400 in the extremities, 66 in the trunk, and 34 in the region above the clavicle. They knew of the ligaments, sutures, lymphatics, nerve plexuses, fascia, adipose tissue, vascular tissue, mucous membrane of the digestive canal, synovial membranes, etc.²⁸

(a) Osteology

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The anatomical system of the Hindus was almost modern. As Hoernle remarks: "Its extent and accuracy are surprising, when we allow for their early age—probably the sixth century B.C.—and their peculiar method of definition."

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There are about 200 bones in the human body according to modern osteology. Charaka counted 360, and Sushruta 300. The former counted the 32 sockets of teeth and the 20 nails as separate bones. These were not admitted by Sushruta.

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The additional 100 in Sushruta’s count, however, has to be explained. This large excess is principally due to the fact that, like Charaka, he regarded the cartilages and the prominent parts of bones (the modern “processes” and “protuberances”) as if they were separate bones.²³ In Europe the first *correct* description of the osseous system was given by Vesalius in 1543.

(b) The Doctrine of Humors

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The physiology of humors, whatever its worth, is older in India than in Greece. At any rate, the Hindu and the Greek humoral pathologies are independent systems. Hippocrates counted four humors, viz., blood, bile, water, and phlegm; but Charaka propounded three, viz., air, bile, and phlegm.

(c) Digestion

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The Hindu physicians knew the digestive system well and described it satisfactorily.

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1. The function of different digestive fluids was understood. They were familiar with the acid gastric juice in the stomach. They knew also that in the small intestines there is a digestive substance in the bile.

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2. They were familiar with, and explained, the conversion of the semi-digested food (chyme) into chyle, and of that again into blood.

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3. They explained the chemical changes by the action of metabolic heat.

(d) Circulation of Blood

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In Europe, previous to Harvey's epoch-making discovery (1628), "the movement of the blood was believed to be confined to the veins, and was thought to be a to-and-from movement." (Halliburton).

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The Hindus knew that the heart (1) receives the chyle-"essence," i.e., venous blood, (2) sends it down to the liver, where it is transformed into red blood, and (3) gets it back as red blood from the liver.

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There was thus the idea of a *chakra* or wheel, i.e., self-returning circle of "circulation."⁵⁹

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But the Hindus did not understand the process clearly. (1) They did not know that the pathway of the blood round and round the body is a "double circle," i.e., "systemic" circulation and "pulmonary" circulation. (2) Neither Charaka nor Sushruta, therefore, understood the function of the lungs in the oxygenation of blood. This was not known to the ancients in Europe also, e.g., to Galen (A.D. 130).

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The Harveyan Circulation was thus not anticipated by the Hindus. The Hindu conception of the vascular system is given below:
(1) There are two classes of blood-conductors (i) *shira* or artery (?) and (ii) *dhamanee* or vein (?),
(2) The heart is connected with the liver by both,
(3) The *dhamanees* bring the impure blood (venous) from the heart into the liver, and the *shiras* conduct the pure (arterial) blood from the liver into the heart.

(e) Nervous System

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Neither in India nor in Europe did the ancients understand the nervous system. Aristotle's error was committed by Charaka and Sushruta also. They all regarded the heart to be the central organ and seat of consciousness. The nerves (sensory and motor) were believed to ascend to and descend from the heart.

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Later investigators, however, corrected this mistake both in the East and the West. Like Galen, the Greek (second century A.D.), the Tantrists and Yogaists of India came to know the truth that the brain (and the spinal cord) is the real organ of "mind."

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According to Bamandas Basu the nervous system is more accurately described in the mystical "Tan-tras" than in purely medical treatises. We get the following from "Shiva Samhita:"⁵⁵
1. Familiarity with the brain and spinal cord;
2. The idea that the central nervous system is composed of gray and white matters;

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3. Familiarity with the lateral ventricles of the brain (through the fourth and third ventricles);
4. Familiarity with the ganglia and plexuses of the cerebro-spinal system;
5. The idea that the brain is composed of *chandra-kala* or convolutions resembling half-moons;
6. The idea that the six *chakras* are the vital and important sympathetic plexuses, presiding over all the functions of organic life. Yoga or contemplation means con-trol over the functions of these plexuses.

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According to Seal, also, the enumeration, by Yogaists, of the spinal nerves with the connected sympathetic chain and ganglia, is a distinct improve-ment on the anatomical knowledge of Charaka and Sushruta.⁵⁹ Thus, according to the Yoga physiologists,

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(1) The *Susumna* is the central cord in the vertebral column. The two chains of sympathetic ganglia on the left and the right are named *Ida* and *Pingala* respectively. The sympathetic nerves have their main connection with *Susumna* at the solar plexus. There are 700 nerve-cords in the sympathetic-spinal system.

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(2) The soul has its special seat within the *Brahmarandhra* above the foramen of Monro and the middle commissure, but traverses the whole cerebro-spinal axis, up and down, along the *Susumna*.

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