Page:A Short History of Aryan Medical Science.djvu/188

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QUALITIES OF A PHYSICIAN
[Chap. IX.

the other hand, if one dreams of seeing a living king, friend, or a Brahman, sacred places, muddy water, mountains, rivers, elephants, horses, bees, leeches, or cows, or finds himself covered over with filth, blood, or flesh, or sees his own end approaching, he may hope to be prosperous if healthy, and to recover from sickness if ill. It is an unfavourable dream if a man suffering from fever associates with a dog ; if a consumptive man sees an ape, a lunatic, or a demon ; one suffering either from gonorrhoea, diarrhoea or dropsy sees water; or one subject to epileptic fits sees a dead body. If a leper drinks oil in a dream, or one with abdominal tumour dreams of eating vegetables, or one suffering from cold of eating buns, if one subject to asthma travels in dream, or an anaemic person dreams of eating yellow food, the results are equally unfavourable. The Indians believe in a deity called "Svapneshvari," or Goddess of Dreams, who is supposed to reveal certain events to her votaries in dreams. Remedies are prescribed for averting, as far as possible, the evil effects of dreams.

Astrology is considered to be a helpmeet to the medical science. The Aryans have from prehistoric times pinned their faith on the in-