COURSE OF LECTURES ON PHYSIOLOGY. 



PART FIRST. 



GENERAL PHYSIOLOGY. 



I. PHYSIOLOGY. CELLULAR PHYSIOLOGY. 



'THHE word "physiology," or "physiological science," is 

 X difficult to define. According to its etymology we 

 should interpret it as the science of growth or animation 

 (yviv). The word "life" or "animation" characterizes the 

 phenomena which exist in a living being. 1 These phenomena 

 are quite complex, and the history of science presents a 

 crowd of definitions, all of which are influenced by the in- 

 adequate state of the knowledge resulting from observation 

 at different periods. 



If, in the actual state of our anatomical knowledge, we 

 examine the organic elements of a living being, we find that 

 by their aspect alone we can divide these into two classes. 

 One class is thus represented by the purely mechanical (ves- 

 sels, fibres) or chemical office (different fluids) which these 

 elements must render to the organism. Those of the second 

 class appear to us at first inexplicable (globular forms, cells 2 ), 

 if we consider their functions either as mechanical or chem- 

 ical. 



If, on the contrary, we examine the acts of which the living 

 being is the theatre, we meet a great number of physical and 



1 An attempt has been made to substitute for the word " physi- 

 ology " that of " biology," which, by its etymology, does not sig- 

 nify science of life, but the different phases of life. 



2 We purposely employ the words "cell" and "globules" 

 indifferently, though we own to our preference for the word 

 44 globule." 



