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THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY
[CHAPTER VIII
The division of the chapters, and the distribution of the formulæ over them, are not made on any unitary principle. Some formulæ are put together on the principle of the form which is given to the medicament; others, on the principle of the purpose which the medicament is to subserve; others, again, on the principle of the kind of patients to whom the medicine is to be administered; and finally, some chapters are added describing some important "simples! vegetable or mineral. Thus, under the first principle we have the initial three chapters, which enumerate formulæ for preparing compound powders (chürna), medicated ghees or clarified butters (ghrita), and medicated oils (taila) respectively. The second principle is applied from two different aspects, according as the purpose of a medicament is, either to relieve or cure an abnormal condition of the system, or to stimulate or improve its normal functions (see note 327 on page 144). Under the former aspect a large number of formulæ are collected in the fourth chapter, referring to some twenty-two or twenty-four, not always clearly distinguished, diseases, the details of which may be seen in the Table of Contents, prefixed to this edition. The principle, however, is not quite strictly observed in the chapter; for right into the middle of it, two formulæ are pitchforked, which belong to the preceding principle (the form of a medicament), viz., one (vv. 484-490) referring to the preparation of a linctus (lêha), the other (vv. 491-493), to the preparation of a kind of medicated mead (madhvâsava). The reason why they are inserted here apparently is that their purpose is purgative and alterative respectively; but even in that case, their proper place would be under the second aspect of the therapeutic principle. In this connection it may also be noted that none of the formulæ in Chapter IV may be understood as a "specific." In most cases the formula is stated to cure a number of, sometimes, very different diseases; but one of these was thought to be its principal object, and this particular disease was, as a rule, indicated by being named at the head of the number. Under the second aspect of the therapeutic principle, formulæ are distributed over the six Chapters V-X, treating of enemas (vasti-karma, see note 142 on page 105), alteratives (rasayana), gruels (yavâgú), aphrodisiacs (vrishya), collyria (nêtrañjana), and hair dyes (kéśa-railjana) respectively. Under the third principle, referring to the kind of patient, we have the three concluding chapters of the treatise, of which, however, only the fourteenth chapter on the diseases of children survives, while chapters XV and XVI, dealing with barren and child-bearing women, respectively, are missing. Intermediately there come in the three chapters XI-XIII, containing small monographs on chebulic myrobalan, plumbago-root, and bitumen respectively.
(3) Part III is another specimen of an ancient formulary, or manual of prescriptions, It is probably, however, a mere fragment of what was, or was intended to be, a larger work. The existing fragment corresponds to the initial portion, that is, to Chapters I-III, of the formulary in Part II; for it contains formulæ put together on the principle of the form of the medicament. But though put together on that principle, the formulæ are not arranged in any consistent order : powders, ghees, oils, pills, tinctures and liniments are mixed up, as shown in the subjoined list:
(1) Oils, formulæ Nos. I, II, III, VII, (4) Ghee, formula No. VI. (2) Powder , No. IV.
(5) Pills, Nos, X, XII, XIV. (3) Liniments, Nos, V, VIII, IX, XIII (6) Linctus, No. XI.
(4) TABLE OF PARALLELS IN PARTS HI AND III. Column I gives references to verses and pages of the edition; columns II and III, to identical or similar formulæ in other works, column IV indicates formulæ to which no parallels
