I. 



THE METHOD AND AIM OF THE STUDY OF 



PHYSIOLOGY. 



[From the conclusion of an article entitled, " Physiology an Inductive 

 Science," in the British and Foreign Medical Review, April, 1838.] 



It is quite evident that no one can advantageously commence the 

 study of physiology without a tolerably complete knowledge of 

 human anatomy, both general and special. Those details, however, 

 which are peculiarly connected with physiological inference may, 

 perhaps, be not improperly deferred until the time when their appli- 

 cation tends to implant them on the memory. Either conjointly 

 with, or subsequently to, the study of the human organism, we 

 recommend that a general knowledge of comparative anatomy be 

 acquired ; and though the magnitude of the task may alarm the 

 student, he will find that if he avoids devoting much attention to 

 details of external form, and endeavours to make himself acquainted 

 with the general development of each system, the pursuit will be 

 easy as well as delightful. It will not be amiss to acquire at the 

 same time a knowledge of the structure of vegetables, not only 

 because we find there expressed in another and frequently a simpler 

 form, the anatomical facts which it is difficult to trace in animals, 

 but because the attainment of the laws of morphology in flowering 

 plants, and their progressive extension in the cryptogamia, may 

 advantageously serve as our guide in the more intricate pursuit of 

 similar generalizations in the animal kingdom. We have already 

 stated our belief that a knowledge of the principles of general 

 physics is essential to the successful cultivation of physiological 



