MODERN MEDICINE

Greymouth Evening Star, 3 December 1926, Page 8

MODERN MEDICINE

FAMILIAR TO HINDUS OF OLD. Scientific discoveries are being announced with such frequency that it seems almost impossible to keep up with them. liow soon will it. De before some authority on antiquity announces the discovery of records proving that the early Egyptians or Hindus were aware of the human qualities of plants, or that a cancer cure had been one of their problems centuries ago ? Hindu scholars have already found evidence, in the ancient literature ol their country, that many of the modern discoveries in medicine and surgery are really lost arts—arts that nad been known and practised by ilie Hindus thousands of years ago, states the “New York Times.” Medicine in India has always hau a religious significance and has been regarded as something sacred, partly because of its antiquity. Among me Brahmins it forms part of the Veda, the contents of which are siqipused to have been revealed by divine power. The medical portion of this ancient work is known as “Ayur Veda,” or “Science of Life,” It was written long before the Christian era, some of it dating back to the days of mythology. The most famous of the Aryan scientists founded many of their writings upon it. Vaccination, anaesthesia, and antiseptic surgery are supposed to have been practised many centuries ago among the Hindus. In the “Ayur Veda” may be found elaborate articles on surgery, diseases of the head, constitutional disorders, nervous diseases, children’s diseases, antidotes for poison, personal hygiene, and the preservation of vitality. Hindu physicians, 2000 years ago, it is said, used the same general

methods oi diagnosis employed today. The condition of a patient’s eyes, skin, and itongue, were all carefully noted. The pulse was consulted then, just as it is to-day. Many surgical operations, believed to have been attempted for the first time within the last fifty years, are said to have been performed successfully thousands of years ago by the Hindus. As regards cranial operations, there is a record of the trepanning of a King of Dhar, somewhere about 877 A.D. Abdominal surgery appears also to have been familiar to those ancient scientists, while anaesthetics were used, and antiseptic precautions were observed. These ancient records seem to indicate an extensive knowledge of hydrotherapy (dietics, vaccination for small pox, and the use of massage). With all this knowledge, however, there was combined much superstition and an interpretation of medical science in terms of religious significance, which undoubtedly curtailed the extent to which it was practiced. /Modern Hindu writers and antiquarians admit Uiat the religious and superstitious features of the ancient Hindu medical sciences destroyed much of their practical value, and that, .prejudice, eventually resulted in their being discontinued..