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PART I. 



SECTION I. 



The Growth of Physiology. 



Physiology formerly embraced the study of all nature 

 ((pva-ig), but it is now restricted to the study of life and 

 the activities of living things. It is really an older science 

 than anatomy, for even before any idea of pulling to pieces, 

 or dissecting plants and animals had suggested itself to our 

 forefathers, speculations in regard to the causes and nature 

 of the various vital phenomena were indulged in, some of 

 which foreshadowed in a truly wonderful way the scientific 

 discoveries of to-day. Thus, about 500 B.C., Empedocles not 

 only formulated a doctrine of evolution, but indicated that 

 the struggle for existence played a part in the process. 

 About a century later Hippocrates insisted on the importance 

 in the treatment of disease of studying the normal action of 

 the body, and recognised the importance of the vis rtiedicatrix 

 natures. His followers adopted the idea of a pneuma, a 

 subtile agent attracted to the lungs and distributed to the 

 body as the basis of all vital phenomena. The physiology 

 of to-day is the offspring of such speculations. 



Organ and Function. — The first great and true advance 

 was through anatomy. Galen, about 200 A.D., dissected and 

 made observations on the physiology of animals. He described 

 various organs and endeavoured, more or less successfully, 

 to ascertain their mode of action by experiments on living 

 animals. He may well be called the father of physiology. 



The Dark Ages fell upon Europe, and little further 

 advance was made till, in the sixteenth century, the group 

 of Italian anatomists showed how the body is built up of 

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