The crudeness of many of the conceptions held by these Hindu physicians concerning pathology is revealed in the following definition: “Health is the expression of the normal composition of the three elementary substances (air, mucus and bile) which play a vital part in the machinery of the human body, and it is also dependent upon the existence of normal quantitative relations between these three substances; and when the latter are damaged, or when they are abnormally increased or diminished, then disease of one kind or another makes its appearance.”[12] Great stress was laid by the physicians as well as by the priests of ancient India upon the observance of very elaborate rules respecting the care of the person while in health and, very naturally, when a patient became ill the physician in charge paid quite as much attention to the employment of hygienic and dietetic measures in effecting the desired cure as to the administering of drugs. The list of the commonly employed hygienic measures is too long for reproduction in its entirety in this brief sketch, but an enumeration of some of the more important items may prove interesting. In estimating the value of these rules the reader should bear in mind that they were intended for people living in a hot climate. Daily bathing heads the list. Then follow: regulation of the bowels; rubbing the teeth with fresh twigs of certain trees which possess astringent properties, and also brushing them twice a day; rinsing the mouth with appropriate washes; rubbing the eyes with salves; anointing the body with perfumed oils; cutting the nails every five days, etc. Two meals a day were prescribed--the first one between nine in the morning and noon, and the second between seven and ten in the evening. “Only a moderate amount of water should be drunk during the meal; drinking water at the beginning of a meal delays digestion, while a copious draught at the end produces obesity. After the meal the mouth should be carefully cleansed and a short walk should be taken.” Among the more important articles of food the following deserve to be mentioned: rice, ripe fruit, the ordinary vegetables, ginger, garlic, salt, milk, oil, melted butter, honey and sugar cane. If meat is eaten, preference should be given to venison, wild fowl and the flesh of the buffalo. The meat of the pig, and beef, as well as fish, are less conducive to health. Gymnastic exercises in moderation are beneficial. Sleep should be indulged in during the day only after some specially severe exercise; at night it should not be extended beyond one hour before sunrise. Bathing immediately after eating is harmful, and it is not to be indulged in when one is affected with a cold, with a high fever, with diarrhoea, or with some disease of the eyes or ears. A hot bath or washing with warm water may be beneficial for the lower half of the body, but for the upper half it is harmful. Sea bathing and cold baths (preferably in the river Ganges) are beneficial.