the properties and functioiv> of flesh, fat, muscles, tendons, ligaments and cartilages. But to the Acharyas of the Ayurveda belongs the glor' of "nrs^. formulating a systematic physiological science, to which end Sushruta as a surgeon did con<;ribute no mean a quo'.a. In the light of Western science the actionsr of living matter, varied as they are, may be reduced to three categorief, viz. (a) Sustentative, {d) Generative, and (c) Correlative functions. The second is not co-extensive with the entire existence of a living organism, Sushruta observes some such distinction among the functions of a living organism when he denominates the living body as the "three supported one" (Tristhunam), and describes the normal Vayu, Pittam and Kapham as its three supports. We wonder how the term Vayu, meaning nerve force, can be confounded with the same term meaning air, since Sushruta derives the former from the root "Va," to move, to spread. Vayu, according to Sushruta, is so called from the fact of its sensory and motor functions such as, smelling, &c. But the Vayu in the Ayurveda is not wholly a physical or organic force, it has its spiritual aspect as well which does not legitimately fall within the scope of our enquiry. It is safe to aver however, that the Ayurvedic physiology, like its sister science in modern Europe, is concerned more with the invisible molecular components of the human organism, than with the workings of its gross members. The holy Agnivesha warns the students of physiology against the danger of regarding the human system as some- thing other than the aggregate of molecules (i).
(1) (
Indic characters)
Charaka Saniliit^ ShArirasthAnam, Chap. VII.
