The principles of physiology applied to the preservation of health, and to the improvement of physical and mental education / [Andrew Combe].
- Andrew Combe
- Date:
- 1842
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: The principles of physiology applied to the preservation of health, and to the improvement of physical and mental education / [Andrew Combe]. Source: Wellcome Collection.
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![lity which we desiderate, has often been the theme of ad- miration and surprise; and there can scarcely be a doubt that were the same principle followed in the cultivation of the physical, moral, and intellectual powers of man, and were no rule received which is not in accordance with the laws of his constitution, a mueh higher degree of success would reward our exertions than has ever yet been expe- rienced, The little regard which has hitherto been paid to the laws of the human constitution, as the true basis on which our attempts to improve the condition of man ought to rest, will be obvious from the fact, that, notwithstanding the di- rect uses to which a knowledge of the conditions which re- gulate the healthy action of the bodily organs may be ap- plied, in the prevention, detection, and treatment of disease, there is scarcely a medical school in this country in which any special provision is made for teaching it; the pupil being left to elaborate it for himself from amidst informa- tion communicated to him for other purposes. It is, there- fore, only too true that “ preventive medicine, the destined guardian of infancy, youth, manhood, and old age, adapted to the interior of families, has yet no existence.”* In some of the foreign universities, indeed, chairs have been instituted for diffusing instruction of this description ; and, in France, a Journal of Hygiéne has existed for several years. But, in this country, with the exception of the London University, which, since the publication of the former editions of this work, has done itself honour by be- ing the first institution in Britain to require an acquaint- ance with Hygiéne from intending candidates for its diplo- ma, the subject has never been treated with any thing like the regard which it assuredly deserves. In one point of view, indeed, the omission is not so extraordinary as it may * Lecture Introductory to a course of popular instruction on the constitution and management of the human body, by Dr Thomas B.d- does, 1797, p. 58. ; : ]](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b33284957_0054.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
