STRUCTURE AND 

 FUNCTIONS OF THE BODY. 



CHAPTER I. 



COMPOSITION AND GENERAL STRUCTURE OF THE 



BODY. 



Anatomy is the study of the physical structure and 

 physiology the study of the normal functions of the 

 human body. 



Chemical Constitution of the Body. In the body only 

 twenty elements have been found. These include car- 

 bon, oxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen, sulphur, phosphorus, 

 calcium, magnesium, manganese, chlorin, potassium, and 

 fluorin. For the most part they appear in very complex 

 and highly unstable combinations, though oxygen and 

 nitrogen may be said to exist uncombined in the blood, 

 alimentary canal, and lungs. Hydrogen also occurs in 

 simple form in the alimentary canal, but as the result 

 of fermentation, not as an element of the body. 



Of the organic compounds some contain nitrogen and 

 some do not. The most important of the former are the 

 proteins, which are found only in living bodies and consist 

 of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, and sulphur 

 combined in very similar proportions. The important 

 proteins in the body are the serum albumen and fibrin 

 found in the blood, myosin in muscle, globulin in the 

 red blood-corpuscles, and casein in the milk. Similar to 

 the proteins but capable of passing through membranes 



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