Siddha medicine, traditional system of healing that originated in South India and is considered to be one

of India’s oldest systems of medicine. The Siddha system is based on a combination of ancient medicinal
practices and spiritual disciplines as well as alchemy and mysticism. It is thought to have developed
during the Indus civilization, which flourished between 2500 and 1700 BCE. According to this theory, it
came to South India when the Dravidian people (speakers of Dravidian languages), who may have been
the original inhabitants of the Indus valley, migrated southward.
Siddha medicine appears as part of Tamil culture in the earliest Tamil writings (Tamil is one of the
principal Dravidian languages). For example, there are references to it in Tamil shangam literature (1st–
4th century CE), including mention in the Tolkappiyam (“Ancient Literature”), a treatise on grammar and
poetics, and in Tirukkural (“Sacred Couplets”), a work attributed to the Tamil poet-saint Tiruvalluvar.
The philosophy of Siddha medicine
Practitioners of Siddha medicine are known as siddhars (or siddhas). According to Tamil tradition, there
initially were 18 siddhars; these individuals often are portrayed as having received their knowledge of the
Siddha system indirectly from the deity Shiva. Siddhars held that the object of their study was to preserve
and prolong life. To do so, they believed, required humans to live according to the laws of nature. They
led simple lives themselves and were unconcerned with caste, creed, colour, or nationality. They
contributed not only to a system of medicine but also to the knowledge of eternity, alchemy, and Yogic
living. Some believe that the siddhars travelled widely to other countries to propagate their system of
medicine and enrich the sciences.
Siddhars possessed ashtama siddhi, the eight great supernatural powers. These powers may have been
attained at birth (because of one’s previous karma), by chemical means, by the power of words, or
through concentration. Meditation on the elements, beginning with the “gross” and ending with the
“subtle,” enabled the siddhars to gain mastery over the elements. Many of the ancient philosophical tenets
of the Siddha system continue to be relevant to modern practitioners.
The five elements
According to the Siddha system, there are five elements that exist in nature: earth, water, fire, air,
and ether, all of which form the original basis of all corporeal things. It is believed that there is
an intimate connection between the macrocosm of the external world and the microcosm of the corporeal
being. In the human body the element of earth is present in the bone, flesh, nerves, skin, and hair; the
element of water is present in bile, blood, semen, glandular secretions, and sweat; the element of fire is
present in hunger, thirst, sleep, beauty, and indolence; the element of air is present in contraction,
expansion, and motion; and the element of ether is present in the interstices of the stomach, heart, neck,
and head.
Humoral pathology
Three of the elements—air, fire, and water—are emphasized in Siddha medicine because they are
believed to form the three fundamental components that make up the human constitution. These three
components—vata, pitta, and kapha (representing air, fire, and water, respectively)—are known
as humours, and their inharmonious interaction produces various pathological states.
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According to the theories of humoral pathology, all diseases are caused by the discordant mixture
of vata, pitta, and kapha. Their proportions in the body govern a person’s physical and mental disposition.
The elements form the connecting link between the microcosm (the human) and the macrocosm (the
world). Thus, the external air corresponds to the internal vata, the external heat corresponds to the
internal pitta, and the external water corresponds to the internal kapha. Under normal circumstances,
according to Siddha theory, vata occupies regions related to the pelvis and the rectum, pitta occupies
regions related to the stomach and the viscera, and kapha occupies regions related to breath, the throat,
and the head.
Siddhars believed vata to be self-originated and identical to divine energy. Imbalance of vata could be the
root cause of all disease. Pitta was believed to represent all the characteristics of fire, such as burning,
boiling, heating, and similar sensations. It was the name given to the heat contained in the liquid bile,
which causes the expulsion of waste matter in the form of urine and feces, and it was believed to give
sight to the eyes, beauty to the skin, and cheerfulness to the mind. Kapha was believed to supply moisture
to the body and to give stability, adding to the strength of the body by increasing the firmness of the limbs
and thereby keeping them in harmony with one another. It was also thought to aid in digestion and
sensation, such as by imparting taste to the tongue.
The presence and proportion of these humours within the system is indicated by the pulse, which is vital
to correct diagnosis.
Pranayama
Prana (Sanskrit prāṇā) refers to “breath.” In Siddha medicine, breathing is considered to be the most
important of all functions, providing vitality and freedom from disease. Controlled breathing is the
method of charging oneself with vitality and personal magnetism; in Yogic terms this is known
as pranayama.
Varmam
Varma is an area of practice in Siddha medicine that is concerned with varmam. The varmam are points
of intersection of bone, muscle, tendons, nerves, and blood vessels. The ancient siddhars believed that
disease emerged when these points were adversely affected by an external force. A manipulative
technique used in Siddha medicine to restore health at the varmam is known as ilakku murai. There are
believed to be 108 varmam, according to Siddha tradition.
Herbal and mineral treatment
The siddhars did extensive research on plants and devised methods by which plants could be harnessed
medicinally. They also described the poisonous nature of some plants and the antidotes for them and
classified plants based on the way they affected the body.
Unlike Ayurveda, which is another traditional system of Indian medicine, but which gives topmost
priority to herbal treatment, Siddha medicine gives importance to the conjunctive use of plants and
minerals. For simple ailments, the Siddha practitioner advises the initial use of herbs. If this does not
prove effective, the judicious use of plants, minerals, and animal products is advised.
According to Siddha theory, preparations made of mercury alone were believed to invest the body with
immunity from decay, enabling it to conquer disease. Mercury and sulfur were considered to be supreme
curatives. Those minerals, however, are extremely toxic to the human body.
Siddha medicine has been used for the management of chronic diseases and degenerative conditions, such
as rheumatoid arthritis, autoimmune conditions, collagen disorders, and conditions of the central nervous
system. Its effectiveness in those situations has varied.

Tropical medicine, medical science applied to diseases that occur primarily in countries with tropical or
subtropical climates. Tropical medicine is a critical part of global health, particularly because
it encompasses preventable diseases that affect impoverished communities and regions.
Among afflictions that fall within the field of tropical medicine are major infectious diseases, such
as HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis; neglected tropical diseases, such as Chagas disease, onchocerciasis (river
blindness), and schistosomiasis; and some noninfectious conditions, such as malnutrition.
Tropical medicine began to emerge in the 19th century, when physicians charged with the medical care of
colonists and soldiers first encountered infectious diseases unknown in the temperate European climate.
Several major advances in the control of tropical diseases occurred in the last quarter of the 19th century.
For example, Scottish physician Sir Patrick Manson showed that the parasite that caused filariasis was
transmitted by mosquito bites. Other tropical diseases were also soon shown to be spread by mosquitoes,
including malaria in 1898 and yellow fever in 1900. Within a few years the role of the tsetse fly in
transmitting sleeping sickness, the sand fly in kala-azar, the rat flea in plague, the human
louse in epidemic typhus, and the snail in schistosomiasis were also discovered. Most early efforts to
control tropical diseases involved measures such as the rigorous draining of swamps and other mosquito-
breeding areas. These and other environmental measures continue to be among the most effective
available, although the introduction of new therapeutic agents, especially new antibiotics and antiparasitic
drugs, has also had an impact on some common tropical diseases.
The destructive social and economic effects of tropical diseases soon caused the research emphasis to
shift from clinical practitioners in the tropics to organized research institutes in Britain and other
colonizing countries. National and international commissions were organized by the colonial powers
to eradicate plague, malaria, cholera, yellow fever, and other common tropical conditions, at least from
areas in which Europeans lived and worked. The first schools devoted to the study of tropical medicine
were founded in England in 1899, and many others soon followed.
In the mid-20th century many colonies achieved independence, and the resulting new countries’
governments took over most research and prevention efforts. Many countries worked closely with
the World Health Organization to develop coordinated disease prevention, elimination, and eradication
efforts.

Otolaryngology, medical specialty concerned with the diagnosis and treatment of diseases of the
ear, nose, and throat. Traditionally, treatment of the ear was associated with that of the eye in medical
practice. With the development of laryngology in the late 19th century, the connection between the ear
and throat became known, and otologists became associated with laryngologists.
The study of ear diseases did not develop a clearly scientific basis until the first half of the 19th century,
when Jean-Marc-Gaspard Itard and Prosper Ménière made ear physiology and disease a matter of
systematic investigation. The scientific basis of the specialty was first formulated by William R. Wilde of
Dublin, who in 1853 published Practical Observations on Aural Surgery, and the Nature and Treatment of
Diseases of the Ear. Further advances were made with the development of the otoscope, an instrument
that enabled visual examination of the tympanic membrane (eardrum).
The investigation of the larynx and its diseases, meanwhile, was aided by a device that was invented in
1855 by Manuel García, a Spanish singing teacher. This instrument, the laryngoscope, was adopted
by Ludwig Türck and Jan Czermak, who undertook detailed studies of the pathology of the larynx;
Czermak also turned the laryngoscope’s mirror upward to investigate the physiology of the
nasopharyngeal cavity, thereby establishing an essential link between laryngology and rhinology. One of
Czermak’s assistants, Friedrich Voltolini, improved laryngoscopic illumination and also adapted the
instrument for use with the otoscope.
In 1921 Carl Nylen pioneered in the use of a high-powered binocular microscope to perform ear surgery;
the operating microscope opened the way to several new corrective procedures on the delicate structures
of the ear. Another important 20th-century achievement was the development in the 1930s of the electric
audiometer, an instrument used to measure hearing acuity.