AUTHORS' PREFACE 



AMONG the students of medicine there exists a need for an 

 outline of human physiology which contains its most impor- 

 tant facts in a concise form and gives the beginner a clear 

 viexv of the entire field. It is true, such manuals exist 

 those of Oestreich, Breitenstein, Schmidt, Peter, etc. but 

 as these contain many errors, they can hardly be regarded 

 as aids to the student, although in general use. For this 

 reason it appeared advisable to publish this manual. 



In regard to the arrangement of the material, we believe 

 that we have not deviated to any great extent from the old 

 and tried system. Our object has been to lay stress upon 

 the undisputed facts, while we have not entered into the dis- 

 cussion of various unsettled questions. Yet in some in- 

 stances we were compelled to mention the various hypotheses 

 at present advanced. 



The physiological methods are dealt with very briefly and 

 often merely indicated by a few words, as it was not our in- 

 tention to give elaborate descriptions of methods and 

 apparatus. Moreover, by a shorter presentation of the 

 methods the erroneous notion might be called forth that but 

 little is necessary to understand it. Hence a mere allusion 

 seems preferable, so that the student shall realize that this 

 manual does not contain all that he needs to know, but that 

 it gives only a survey of the general field of physiology and 

 cannot take the place of lectures and larger text-books. 



Most of the illustrations of this book are copies of figures 

 found in well-known text-books and original papers. Many 

 of the figures have been kindly loaned by the publishers of 



211 



