K 9 



PREFACE 



TO THE AMERICAN EDITION. 



DURING an experience as a teacher in the department 

 of Physiology at the Medical School of Maine, I found 

 it a difficult matter to recommend to my class an Eng- 

 lish text-book in which the functions of living tissue 

 were closely compared and combined with its texture, 

 or, in other words, a book wherein the relations of 

 Physiology to Histology were carefully presented. Un- 

 doubtedly there are many good works on Physiology to 

 which the student can refer for a knowledge of the 

 subject ; but a concise treatise within the limits of the 

 means of most medical students cannot be found, unless 

 we except those written either in German or French. 

 It is not claimed that the want is completely met, but 

 a careful study of this manual will show that human 

 Physiology is presented in a concise and interesting 

 manner, and that recent investigations in other countries 

 have not been overlooked. It may be that the peculiar 

 views of Professor Kiiss have been strongly set forth ; 

 but yet it must be remembered that the positive expo- 

 sition of a teacher in any department of instruction is 

 more fruitful to the cause of education than the collec- 

 tion of a vast amount of undigested material. 



"As an indication of the general method of the author, 

 we would direct the attention of the student to the 

 function assigned to the globule or cell in the series of 



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