The Positive Sciences of the Ancient Hindus c9.4

c9.4

Roughly speaking, the Earth-compounds answer to the nitrogen compounds in the food, the Tejas-compounds to the hydro-carbons (heating-producing), and the Vâyu-compounds to the carbo-hydrates (dynamic). The Ap-compounds are the watery parts of food and drink. The flesh, for example, is a tissue composed principally of the Earth-compounds; the fat, of the Earth- and Ap-compounds; the bones, of Earth-, Vâyu-, and Tejas-compounds. Different operations of the metabolic heat (perhaps different digestive fluids are also meant) are required to digest the different substances in the food.