This essay shows that physicians of early Āyurveda adopted a pragmatic approach to the challenges dharma imposed on them. While the concept and its importance is generally accepted in the medical compendia, various passages stress the fact that good health is an indispensable precondition to pursue dharma and other goals of life. In the interests…[Read more]

article + 6 photographs from the Manuscriptistan Project

Abstract: The causes of suffering are a central topic in Buddhism as well as in Ayurveda. The Pāli Canon and other early Buddhist texts like the Milindapañha mention eight specific causes resulting in disease or suffering at several places. In contrast, early Ayurveda, as presented in the Carakasaṃhitā, knows a threefold causal complex of dise…[Read more]

According to the medical tradition, the temperament of bodies came from the balance of their primary qualities – hot, cold, dry, and moist. However, physicians associated additional sensory properties with temperament in the field of pharmacology. These sensations included taste, color, and odor, which allow an appraisal of the constitution and a…[Read more]

1963.11.22-12:30 * QRt by PRURITUS MIGRANS * CC: BY-NC-SA

Although a plethora of ancient South Asian sources refer to situations that would be considered crises by modern standards, the early Sanskrit vocabulary lacks a word that we could understand as a distinct equivalent of the term “crisis” and its Greek and Latin predecessors. Nevertheless, the descriptions and discussions of personal and col…[Read more]

This paper provides a background on the life and times of Graeme Clark, a founder of the area of biomedical engineering and the cochlear implant, who grew up in the small town of Camden, NSW.
The life and times of Professor Graeme Clark, the pioneer of the Cochlear Implant, are part of the Camden story. He was a local boy who made good, improved…[Read more]

This paper contributes to the history of small communities in Australia by examining the life and times of a local pharmacist and his wife in a small country town, the business they ran and their contribution to the local community. Colin and Dorothy Clark were local identities and made a significant contribution to the Camden community. Colin as…[Read more]

From antiquity, Galenic physicians extensively discussed the active powers of simple and compound drugs. In their views, simple drugs, that is, single ingredients, acted according to their material qualities and the properties of their substance. As for compound drugs, their efficacy resulted from the mutual interaction of their ingredients and…[Read more]

Dawkins felslutning – vederläggning av att “egoism” är den vanliga normen och att det bara finns “begränsade former av altruism” Till att börja med vill jag betona att “även bakterier är mer reproduktivt framgångsrika i närvaro av andra av sin egen art.” Jag menar att bakterier har anslutningsmöjligheter för guds skull!
1. På en dag i slaget vid…[Read more]