Human physiology : prepared with special reference to students of medicine / by Joseph Howard Raymond.

  • Raymond, Joseph H. (Joseph Howard), 1845-1915
Date:
1901
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Human physiology : prepared with special reference to students of medicine / by Joseph Howard Raymond. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Augustus C. Long Health Sciences Library at Columbia University and Columbia University Libraries/Information Services, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the the Augustus C. Long Health Sciences Library at Columbia University and Columbia University.

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    No oiu' can 1)0 a successful physician who does not understand at least tiie more iuijiortaut functions of the luinian body, and the great(>r the l<no\vh'd<;-e lie possesses of ])hysiolof2:y, the hroader will be tile seieutilic groundwork on which he has to build. Disease is a de})arture iVorn the normal or physiologic condition. A dis- eased or<ran ]>erforms its function in an abnormal manner, and to succeed in correcting the diseased condition one must first be able to recognize this abnormal action, which can only be done by knowing how the organ acts in health—that is, by understanding its physiology. Even with this knowledge one may be unable to accomplish the desired object, for the structure of the organ may be so changed that no means can be applied which will restore it to its normal condition ; but one is certainly more likely to succeed if possessed of a knowledge of its physiology than if ignorant of it. The study of human physiology is but the study of the human fiHictions, and when these functions are thoroughly understood the science is mastered. Classification of Functions.—The functions of the body may be classified as follows : 1. Nutritive Function.'^, which include those concerned directly with the maintenance of the individual, such as digestion, res])iration, circulation, etc.; 2. Nervo^is Func- tions, which include those that bring the different organs of the body into harmonious relations with one another, and, in addition, bring the individual, through the special senses—sight, hearing, etc.—into relation with the world outside him ; and 3. Reproductive Functions, which are concerned not with the individual, but with the species, which they perpetuate. Histology of the Human Body.—Anatomy, as we have already learned, is the science which treats of structure ; and this is true as well of the minute or microscopic as of the gross or macroscopic structure; but it will be of advantage to the student of physiology to have distinctly in mind so much of the histology or minute structure of the body as is necessary to a full under- standing of its functions, and to appreciate the discussion of them. With this end in view, the histology of each organ will be given in connection with its function, but preliminary to all this ^^'e shall discuss the tissues of the body which go to make up these organs. For fuller details the student is referred to the many excellent treatises on human histology. Physiologic Chemistry.—Although physiology, strictly speaking, has nothing to do with composition, still, as a matter of necessity as well as of convenience, it is usual to preface the study of the functions of the human body with a greater or lesser consideration of its composition. This considerationis necessary, because, as a rule, medical students have an insufficient knowledge of this branch of chemistry—physiologic chemistry—to take up at once the study of the ifunctions with profit, and should the