Medical Enlightenment and the Priest's Legacy

Logs were driven deep into the earth, building a sturdy frame. On the frame, a wild deer had been bound fast, its four limbs spread open, clearly exposing its torso and abdomen. At this moment, the wounded deer bleated mournfully, its body heaving as it struggled, yet it still refused to die.

The female warrior Nashu stood beside it, both arms exerting force as she easily held down the thrashing deer's head. The wild deer struggled for a while, then, amid its constant blood loss, exhausted all its strength and became a motionless specimen.

The Obsidian short dagger was very sharp, and Xolotl's hand was very steady. He precisely slit open the deerskin, cut through the muscle, and exposed the wild deer's steadily beating heart, without damaging the arteries or the deer lungs above the heart, which were still breathing.

"Alisa, my love. In the Nahua Language, we never speak of an organ alone, such as eyes, nose, ears, mouth, or teeth. Instead, we say my eyes, noixteyotl, my nose, noyacatzotl, my ears, nonacas, my mouth, nocamac, and my teeth, notlancoch."

Xolotl pondered briefly. He did not hurry to explain, but began with the traditional concepts of the Nahua Language, gradually merging them with medical knowledge from later generations.

"The reason we say it this way is precisely because parts of the body cannot survive apart from the body. They are not independent physical things. They must be connected together to jointly form a living whole. Just as all my organs, all the parts of my body, are connected together to form multiple systems, and then form me."

"Xolotl, I understand! You mean organs and those systems together form 'Tonacayo,' tonacayo, which is our entire body! And as the Priests say, the vitality within our bodies comes from the sun,