The Positive Sciences of the Ancient Hindus c9.t1.11

c9.t1.11

It is clear that Charaka and Suśruta had no idea of the part played by the lungs in the purification of the blood. The liver converts the “venous” blood in this system into true (“arterial”) blood, and along with the spleen serves as a basis of discrimination between a *Śirâ* and a *Dhamanî*, thus illustrating Suśruta’s statement that the distinction between these two kinds of blood-vessels must be accepted as real, inasmuch as they have different sources and different functions.