PREFACE. 



THE plan of the present work has been designed with the special 

 view to its utility as an Educational Book, the subject being ex- 

 plained, in it, in a particular order and manner, and the Science 

 of Physiology treated as dependent on those of Anatomy, Chem- 

 istry, and Physics. 



In completing the details of each subject, the best and most 

 recent authorities have been consulted, especially the systematic 

 works of Quain and Sharpey, Gray, Kolliker, Gegeribauer, and 

 Leydig, on Anatomy, and of Carpenter, Todd and Bowman, Miil- 

 ler, and Vierordt, on Physiology. Besides this, many of the ar- 

 ticles in Todd's Cyclopaedia of Anatomy and Physiology, and 

 many separate works or essays have been referred to, including 

 Papers by Owen, Allen Thomson, Huxley, Beale, and Quatrefages 

 on Anatomical subjects, the Chemical and Physical Essays of Gra- 

 ham, Williamson, Dalton, Helmholz, Playfair, Frankland, Stokes, 

 and Bence Jones, and the Physiological writings of Brown-Sequard, 

 Dubois-Reymond, Bishop, Paget, Savory, Richardson, Lister, and 

 others. 



The work, as originally planned, several years since, was of 

 smaller size and humbler pretensions ; but as now completed, after 

 considerable labor and in fulfilment of a task once begun, it will, 

 it is hoped, prove serviceable to the student of Medicine and Sur- 

 gery, presenting a concise but comprehensive summary of modern 

 Physiological Science, both Human and Comparative. 



It also offers to all candidates in Natural Science Examinations, 

 to Teachers in Schools where instruction in Physiology is given, 

 and to the lover of Nature generally, a convenient guide, and an 

 ample store of information, in their Physiological studies. 



