This section is from the book "The Sushruta Samhita", by Kaviraj Kunja Lal Bhishagratna. Also available from Amazon: The Sushruta Samhita.
A physician should first observe the vital condition (Ayu) of the patient before commencing the medical treatment. After that, the nature of the disease, the country and season of the year in which it has made its appearance, as well as the state of digestion, age, body, strength, disposition, habit, previous medicine, natural temperament and the power of endurance of the patient, etc. should be observed and carefully examined.
Men, the dimensions of whose hands, legs, sides, back, nipples of the breast, teeth, face, shoulders and forehead exceed the average, as well as those whose eyes, arms, phalanges and fingers are longer than the ordinary ones should be regarded as going to live long. Those who have broad chests, broad eye-brows with broader spaces intervening between the muscles of the breasts, and who take in deeper inspirations of breath, will be long lived. Those whose necks, thighs, and generative organs are shorter than those of the average type, or those whose voices and umbilical cavities are deep, and whose breasts are unraised an d thick-set, and external ears broad, fleshy and haiiy, with the occipital region fully developed and protruded, will enjoy a longer span of life. Men, on whose bodies sandal paste and similar preparations begin to dry up from the head downward, while those applied over the chest become absorbed later, should be looked upon as persons endowed with an uncommonly longer duration of life.
The medical treatment of such a patient may be unhesitatingly taken in hand by a physician. Persons, exhibiting bodily features other than those described above, should be looked upon as short-lived men, while those, who are possessed of features common to men of both the above mentioned types, should be considered as keeping the mean between them as regards longevity (Madhyamayuh).
A man, with deep-set bones, ligaments, and veins, and tough and thick-set limbs, and firm and unflinching sense organs, as well as one whose body gradually develops a more and more symmetrical shape, should be looked upon as a long-lived man The man, who has not ailed for a single moment even from the day of his birth, and has been getting more and more strong-limbed every day through the cultivation of his inborn sense and a better knowledge of the laws of health, is sure to live to a good old age in the full enjoyment of his senses and intellect.
Now, hear me describe the bodily features of a man of a mean or average duration of life (Madhyamayuh). The man, the integuments of whose lower eyelids are marked with two or three well-marked and extended lines or furrows, and whose legs and external ears are thick and fleshy, and the tip of whose nose is turned a little upward, and who has up-pointed lines directly running through the middle of his back, is expected to live up to the ripe old age of seventy years.
 
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