The Positive Sciences of the Ancient Hindus c4.s2.61

c4.s2.61

That these were conventional measures arbitrarily assumed goes without question, for of course the Hindus had no physical data for a mathematical calculation of these minute quantities. A Válágra (hair-tip, or finest filament of hair), for example, is taken to be 3.2⁻¹⁴ of an inch thick, *i.e.* less than one-five-thousandth fraction of an inch in thickness; and a fibril of the networks of Dhamaní or Nádí (nerve) that supply the pores of the skin (papillæ? मुखानि रोमकूप-प्रतिबद्धानि, Susruta) was supposed to be about a thousandth part of the finest hair in thickness, or 1/125 of the *minimum visibile*, and, therefore, about 3.10⁻³~2⁻¹⁴ of an inch thick (*cf.* सूक्ष्मनाड़ीप्रचारतः रोम्नः सहस्रभागेनतुल्यासु प्रचरति, Pañchadasí); but it is evident that these measures were arbitrarily fixed upon, instead of being arrived at by calculation or actual measurement. Indeed, Charaka expressly states that the number of Śirás and Dhamanís in the body (three million fifty-six thousand nine hundred) is only a conjectural estimate (अनिर्देश्यमतः परं तर्क्यमेव—Śárírasthána, Chap. VII.).