OF THE 



UNIVERSITY 



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PREFACE 



THIS Handbook is the outcome of a desire to present to students 

 a work that may serve to connect pure physiology with the physiology 

 specially useful to physicians ; and I have endeavored to adapt it to the 

 curricula of medical schools where the subject is taught in the English 

 language. With this end in view, I undertook the now difficult task of 

 selecting from the vast store of knowledge what I trust may be taken 

 as a fairly symmetrical and comprehensive presentation of human physi- 

 ology, not too voluminous for students or for ready reference by active 

 practitioners. The subject has been treated from a medical standpoint; 

 not unduly neglecting, it is hoped, pure physiology and biology. 



In 1875 I published a Text-book of Human Physiology, which was 

 a condensation of a work in five volumes (1866-1874), entitled Physi- 

 ology of Man. The second and third editions of that work con- 

 tained such corrections and additions as it was possible to make in 

 the electrotype plates. The book was rewritten for a fourth edition 

 in 1888. During the twenty-five years from 1875 to 1900, about twenty- 

 one thousand copies of the Text-book were distributed by sale. The 

 advances in physiology since 1888 need not be indicated here. Since 

 1858 I have been actively engaged in teaching physiology to medical 

 students, and since 1875 have used my own text-book. About five 

 years ago, however, the book represented my teaching so imperfectly 

 that I felt obliged to use more modern works for class recitations. 



This volume represents the instruction in physiology now given at 

 the Cornell University Medical College, somewhat expanded for more 

 extended study and reference. It contains little of the text of former 

 works, except parts relating to descriptive anatomy and established 

 views that have become classic. Few unsettled questions, now under 

 discussion, are considered at length; but I have attempted to present 

 what properly belongs to human physiology in a manner as plain and 

 concise as possible. 



Long experience as a teacher of undergraduates has convinced me 

 that students can not be assumed to be sufficiently familiar with the 

 descriptive anatomy and the histology of parts and organs to acquire 



O 



