IY. 



ON ELEMENTARY INSTRUCTION IN PHYSI- 

 OLOGY. 



THE chief ground upon which I venture to recom- 

 mend that the teaching of elementary physiology should 

 form an essential part of any organised course of in- 

 struction in matters pertaining to domestic economy, is, 

 that a knowledge of even the elements of this subject 

 supplies those conceptions of the constitution and mode 

 of action of the living body, and of the nature of health 

 and disease, which prepare the mind to receive instruc- 

 tion from sanitary science. 



It is, I think, eminently desirable that the hygienist 

 and the physician should find something in the public 

 mind to which they can appeal; some little stock of 

 universally acknowledged truths, which may serve as a 

 foundation for their warnings, and predispose towards 

 an intelligent obedience to their recommendations. 



Listening to ordinary talk about health, disease, and 

 death, one is often led to entertain a doubt whether the 

 speakers believe that the course of natural causation 

 runs as smoothly in the human body as elsewhere. In- 

 dications are too often obvious of a strong, though per- 



