improve the capacity of our body to meet challenges.

Secondly,
we should try to minimize the extent to which the body is
challenged. Both these measures are not mutually exclusive.
However, of the two, the first is more important and practical.
Adequate and appropriate nutrition, and regular physical exercise are the two mo
st important ways of improving the fighting
capacity of our body. The second part of the strategy for staying healthy is to
avoid needless challenges to the body. This
may be done by avoiding inhalation and ingestion of germs,
harmful chemicals and pollutants. Another way to prevent cruelty to the body is
to avoid overuse, misuse or abuse of any part
of the body. For example, we should not overuse our back by
trying to lift a 100 kg weight, misuse our eyes by working at a
computer for long hours, or abuse our lungs by smoking.
Doing all this can keep us fairly healthy but is no guarantee
against illness. In case of illness, a doctor usually takes one of
the following four measures. First, he reassures the patient that
soon everything will be fine. The reassurance is not hollow: it is
based on his know ledge of homeostatic mechanisms. Secondly,
he tells the patient not to be impatient. This is because the
doctor knows that homeostatic mechanisms take time. Thirdly,
he suggests some measures which assist the body in its struggle
against the disease. For example, he may suggest hot fomentation of an inflamed
area so that the accelerated blood flow
through the area may increase further and drain away undesirable substances. Or,
he may prescribe antibiotics which may kill
some disease-causing germs in addition to those killed by the
defence mechanisms of the body. And finally, the doctor may
discover that the disease is due to a deficiency. It may be dietary deficiency,
or deficiency of some physiological substance
produced by the body. In that case the doctor tries to supply the
deficient substance in an effort to restore physiological function. For example,
in iron deficiency, he gives iron; in water
and salt deficiency (as in diarrhoea), he gives water and salt;
and in insulin deficiency (diabetes), he gives insulin. It is worth
obser ving that in each of the four approaches outlined above,
the doctor works with nature, not against it. And, each of the
four approaches needs knowledge of physiology.
LOOKING BACK
History is more than a chronicle of events. An analytic view
of the past is essential for understanding the present and has
important lessons for the future. Past mistakes are a valuable warning, and past
achievements are a precious source of
inspiration. If you look at the history of any development in
physiology or medicine, or for that matter any other field of
science, it follows a characteristic pattern. It starts with some
ancient concepts prevalent in the ancient civilizations of India,
China, Egypt or Mesopotamia, as long ago as 4000-2000 BC.
Then we come across some concepts which originated in the
Golden Age of India and Greece. These concepts are attributed
to Charaka (an Indian physician), Susruta (an Indian surgeon)
Hippocrates (a Greek physician) or Aristotle (a Greek philosopher). These concep
ts belong to the period around 600-300
BC. Note that there is a gap of about 1500 years between the
ancient civilizations and the Golden Age of Indian and Greece.
We do not know much about this dark interlude but it is most
likely that the miracles of the Golden Age were not really miracles but based on
the foundations that had already been laid in
the ancient civilizations. The next milestone in the history of
any medical subject is usually the contributions or concepts of

Galen (130-200 AD). Very few of the concepts belonging to

Galen s days or earlier periods match with our presents ideas.
More important than evaluating the accuracy of these ideas is
to realize that as long as 2000 years ago a large body of organized knowledge co
vering virtually every area of enquiry had
been gathered and documented. Tracing the history further
leads to a very striking revelation. Following the contributions of Galen, there
is no major development for a period of
about 1400 years. This stretch of 1400 years is very appropriately called the Da
rk Ages. It is impossible to believe that no
intelligent persons were born anywhere in the world for such a
long period of time. What is more likely is that during the Dark
Ages the environment was lacking in some stimuli which trigger generation of new
knowledge. We shall take a close look at
the environments of the Golden and Dark Ages and the events
which were instrumental in shaping such environments. This
exercise, apart from being very fascinating, is very instructive
for understanding the process of scientific growth.
The Golden Age
The Golden Age of Greece (circa 500 BC) more or less coincided with that of Indi
a and China. During this period all these
societies enjoyed enlightened political leadership, reasonable
prosperity, religious tolerance, and ideals of simple living and
high thinking. Scholarship was held in high esteem, there
was ample freedom of thought and expression, and there was
extensive exchange of ideas through travel. This happy state
was disturbed when Alexander the Great died in 323 BC without leaving behind a c
ompetent heir. His kingdom broke up
into four parts, and eventually declined by the 1st century BC.
There were at least two other factors which perhaps led to a
decline of Greek scholarship. The first was the tremendous
authority wielded by Platonic and Euclidean traditions. It is
generally inevitable that although genius starts with an open
mind, its success eventually casts such an overwhelming spell
that it gives birth to a rigid and authoritarian school of thought.
Secondly, the death of Aristotle in 322 BC was followed by
the emergence of Epicurean and Stoic Schools of Philosophy.
Unlike Aristotle, these new schools were not much interested
in science. Their main concern was ethics, or moral conduct
of life.
The Roman Empire
The period of the Roman Empire, which reached its peak
around the first century AD, marks an intellectual transition from the Golden Ag
e to the Dark Age. Romans were an
extremely wise and practical people. They employed their
immense success and prosperity to achieve marvels in engineering, art and archit
ecture. They also gave to the world the
Roman law which prevails all over the world even today with
very few changes. They also had great respect for Greek scholarship and scientif
ic achievements. Greek was the second language of cultured Romans. They practise
d Hippocratic medicine, and did much to perpetuate and disseminate their Greek