ADVERTISEMENT. THE following pages contain the heads of the Physiological Lectures delivered by the Author in the School of Great-Windmill-Street, together with a short account of the structure of the principal organs in the human body. To be practically useful, a treatise on Physiology should present or recall to the mind of the reader a clear conception of the parts, the uses of which it describes: at the same time it must be short; and thus its scope is limited to a concise explanation of the more important functions of the body. A treatise fitting the magnitude of the subject would not suit the present thriving condition of Medical Science. So rapid is the progress of Physiology, that the first part of such a work would begin to be obsolete before the publication of the last; not to mention, that it would be too voluminous and expensive for students, and would be neglected by men advanced iv ADVERTISEMENT. in the medical profession, for the scattered original essays from which it must have been compiled. Physiology can only be adequately taught in Anatomical Theatres, when the Lectures of each year contain the discoveries of the preceding, and when the Lecturer turns from the actual demonstration of parts, to explain their uses. A treatise on Physiology, however excellent, can be of little service, except to those, who either are, or have been, engaged in such a course of study. He who is acquainted with the healthy structure and functions of the body, is qualified to investigate disease. Anatomy is the first step in a medical education; Physiology the second; Pathology the third-without the two former, Medicine and Surgery would be empirical arts, founded upon no principles, continually changing to suit the cleverest theory of the day, and calculated to be as destructive, as they are now beneficial to mankind. CONTENTS. Page 1 7 ་ 8 9 10 11 12 13 15 17 CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTORY OBSERVATIONS. Tendency of Physiological Studies. Division of Matter into Organized and Unorganized Meaning of the Term "Life" Physical Characters of Organized Matter. Chemical Principles of Organized Matter Spontaneous Decomposition of dead Organized Matter Of Antiseptic Substances Of the Vital Phenomena. Of the Properties of Life Of Phenomena in Plants which imply Selection Sensitive and Vegetative Functions combined in Animal Evidence adduced by Harvey Differences of Arterial and Venous Blood Its Separation into Serum and Crassamentum Of the Globules of the Blood. Of the Colouring Matter of the Blood....... Causes which retard Coagulation 39 Distribution of Nerves in Muscles... Action and Relaxation of Muscles unattended with atl Mechanism, by which the Chest admits of being alter nately enlarged and diminished Of the Pleura and Pericardium.. Tendency of the Resilience of the Lungs to lessen the atmospheric Pressure upon every Surface, which they touch Structure of the Heart Nature of Arteries and Veins 53 Of the Flow of Blood into the Auricles 64 Suction produced by the Resilience of the Lungs 65 Effect of Inspiration on the Motion of the Blood. ..... 66 |