When Alexander Pope wrote “The proper study of mankind is man,” he was thinking rather of man as a social being than as the possessor of an amazingly complex and interesting body. It is nevertheless true that to one who finds enjoyment in the study of intricate mechanisms or to one for whom that amazing sequence of events which we call life has appeal there is no more fascinating study than the study of the living body. That part of the study of the body which concerns itself primarily with activity and only secondarily with form and structure, makes up the science of Physiology. The way the body works is the central theme.
The practical value of Physiology to the general reader lies in the fact that it forms the basis of all sound rules of hygiene. Life is made up of bodily activities which may be carried on correctly or incorrectly. Carried on correctly they mean health, carried on incorrectly, unhealth. The world is flooded with health-preserving or health-restoring systems, urged upon the public, for the most part, by promoters in search of gain. Such of these as have merit are based on definite physiological principles, and anyone who has a common-sense working knowledge of his own body can order his life in accordance with them, at little or no expense. Moreover, a sound appreciation of Physiology drives home the truth that when the body is really out of order its restoration can be safely intrusted only to the properly trained physician: the man or woman who through years of painstaking study has won insight into the intricacies of the human mechanism and whose honest appreciation of the difficulties of his profession, and courageous sincerity in grappling with them, justify to the full the confidence in which he is held by his community.
CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
I. The Signs of Life 9
II. The Maintaining of Life 18
III. The Sources of Food 24
IV. The Uses of Food 31
V. Body Cells 41
VI. The Supporting Framework 53
VII. Motion 73
VIII. Sensation—Internal and Contact Senses 86
IX. Sensation—Distance Senses 96
X. The Nervous System and Simple Nervous
Actions 122
XI. The Brain and Complex Nervous Actions 139
XII. Some Special Nervous Actions; Smooth
Muscle and Gland Control 155
XIII. The Body Fluids 173
XIV. The Conveyer System of the Body 191
XV. The Service of Supply of Food 226
XVI. The Service of Supply of Oxygen 253
XVII. The Service of Removal of Waste 271
XVIII. More About the Use of Food by the Body 277
XIX. Keeping Warm in Winter and Cool in
Summer 305
XX. The Perpetuation of the Race 324
XXI. Child and Man 345
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