Hindu Medicine c5.s3.10

c5.s3.10

same in animals and men; for men and animals can be compared, while plants and human beings show no affinity (p. 62). As for the principles of classification, some of them are taken from the political order, since for the Hindu the castes echo natural distinctions of qualities (pp. 63 ff.). Others are derived from physiology. Phlegm, gall, wind, but not blood, are considered to be the constituents; the mixed or balanced type is the highest (pp. 66 ff.).⁴ Yet, many systems know only of three species (p. 70), and the phlegmatic type, at any rate, is nearest to the ideal combination of the humors, often it represents the supreme value. That this is so is in agreement with the climate of India and the temperament which derives from it. The same feeling, so utterly at variance with that of the Western world, is expressed in the Hindu ideal of contemplation, of inactivity, as the highest form of life, celebrated in Hindu philosophy and art (pp. 74 ff.).