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The Organisation of tde Human Body
149
reference to fats (meda and vasã) as one of the constituent elements of plasma suggests its existence in the blood. The human body contains two anjalis of meda (hard congealed fat) and three anjalis of vasā (semi - liquid fat ).117
The Red Corpuscles :
'The very term 'rakta'118 (red or crimson or blood ) or sonita 119 (red or blood ) as used in Jaina Biology connotes blood which contains red blood cells or erythrocytes. According to modern Biology, "there are, on the average, about 5,400,000 red blood cells per cubic millimeter of blood in the adult male, and about 5,000,000 per cu. mm. in the adult female. New infapts have a larger number, 6 to 7 million per cubic millimeter ; this number decreases after birth and the adult number is reached at about three months ; the human body contains about thirty trillion red blood cells”. 120
The mention of 1 ādhaka 121 or 1/2 adhaka122 of blood in the human body as made by the Jainācāryas suggests the quantity of red corpuscles contained in it at different stages.
Hemoglobin :
Jain Biology does not make any direct mention of hemoglobin, but its reference to pitta123 (bile pigments ) which is excreted by the liver (yakst) in the bile as a result of the chemical degradation undergone by the heme portion of the molecule of hemoglobin 125 and also of bile, ducts or veins (sirāo pittatdhāriņio )126 suggests that the Jainacāryās had some ideas or knowledge of hemoglobin in the blood. The occurrence together of the two terms pitta - soniya 127
116. Tandula Veyaliya, 16, p. 35; p. 40; Kalyānakaraka, 3.6-7. p. 31. 117. Kalyāṇakāraka, 3.6-7, p. 31. ; Tandula Veyaliya mentions 1/2 adhak of vasā,
16. p. 35. 118. Kalyāṇakāraka 3.6-7, p. 31. 119. Tandula Veyaliya 6, p. 10. 120. Biology, p. 250. 121. Tandula Veyaliya 16, p 35. 122. Kalyānakara 3.7, p. 3. 123. Tandula Veyaliya 2, p. 6. 124. Kalyānakkaraka 3.4 125. Biology, p. 2:2. 126, Tandula Veyaliya, 16, p. 35. 127. "Chatthe mase pitrasoniyam uvaciņci", Tandula Veyaliya 2. p. 6.
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