VI PREFACE. 



investigations of the living organism, and particularly to 

 the office of the epithelial globules in absorption and 

 secretion. The time is come for science no longer to 

 explain as phenomena of osmosis other operations of 

 absorption, secretion, etc., which belong essentially to 

 living bodies ; but to attribute these and similar acts to 

 those functions or offices of globular or cellular ele- 

 ments which are essentially endowed with life, espe- 

 cially as their functions cease with the destruction or 

 death of these elements. 



" With due respect for those positions assumed by our 

 author, in this second edition we have avoided giving 

 too great prominence to any theories advanced by him 

 which seemed to bear too strongly towards the hypo- 

 thetical, and reach too far beyond the tangible ground 

 upon which the science of to-day rests ; we especially 

 refer to the study of the functions of chyliferous vessels 

 as connected with the blood-vessels in the process of 

 absorption." 



The peculiarities of the original of Professor Kiiss and 

 the French editor, Dr. Duval, have been conformed to 

 as closely as consistent with the French idioms. The 

 method of the author is concise and necessarily techni- 

 cal ; and, although lucid, demands a systematic perusal 

 of the work for its comprehension. An explanation of 

 the technical terms is much aided by diagrammatic and 

 other forms of illustration ; so that the student will be 

 rapidly advanced to a clear view of the whole, as to the 

 subject and terminology employed. 



Though an efficient compilation may be thought to 

 serve a better purpose for the plan of a general text- 

 book, no objection can exist against special works by 

 expert physiologists : the special may serve as an intro- 

 duction to that of wider extent. 



