vi EDITOR'S PREFACE 



leader in physiology whose work and ideas for many years 

 dominated the labours of English physiologists. It is to 

 him above all others that we owe our present knowledge 

 of what he terms " the involuntary nervous system," and 

 it was fitting that an account by him of his life's work 

 should form the initial volume of this series of English 

 monographs. 



In all his work Gaskell was never content with the 

 mere record of a new fact. The ever-recurring question 

 was "What does this mean?" and the search after the 

 meaning of phenomena led him to wide generalizations, 

 parts of which indeed may not stand with future investi- 

 gation, but all of which have served and will serve as a 

 beacon light in revealing problems and showing the way 

 of research to those working in allied branches of the 

 subject. 



ERNEST H. STARLING. 



October^ 1915. 



