PREFACE TO FIRST EDITION 



These chapters are intended for the general practi- 

 tioner, the consulting surgeon, and candidates for 

 the higher examinations in physiology. 



There was a time when one man could be physio- 

 logist and surgeon too, but the rapid march of 

 progress in each field has left a great gap between 

 the sciences which is continually widening. The 

 triumphs of the surgeon are unknown to the physio- 

 logist, and the converse is equally true. Yet many 

 of the discoveries of the past ten years which have so 

 changed the face of physiology are fraught with vast 

 possibiHties for the clinician. This book is an attempt 

 to sift out from the New Physiology that which is 

 likely to be of value in the actual diagnosis and 

 treatment of patients. 



It would be a small sendee to lay before the 

 practical reader mere theories or guess-work. With 

 but few exceptions, only the estabhshed and settled 

 conclusions arrived at by manj'' competent and 

 independent workers have been introduced. Part 

 of the chapter on cutaneous anaesthetics and a few 

 other researches and passing suggestions for which 

 the author is personally responsible must stand in 

 a different category. 



