PHYSIOLOGY AND THE FOOD PKOBLEM 



PHYSIOLOGY treats of the uses or functions of the 

 body and of its various parts, so that the relation- 

 ship of its study to everyday life is more or less 

 obvious, although it is often forgotten. 



The science known as Hygiene is the direct 

 practical outcome of physiological knowledge ; the 

 health of a nation is its most important asset, and 

 all the means taken to prevent disease come within 

 the scope of Hygiene. It is a curious phase of our 

 national habits that any study of a biological nature 

 is so largely debarred from general education. If a 

 man is to be an engineer, the necessity of a know- 

 ledge of engines is obvious. We are all engineers 

 in conducting our life work, yet how few have even 

 a faint idea of the construction or working of the 

 engine called the human body. 



In some ancient seats of learning, Physiology 

 still retains its old name, the Institutes of Medicine, 

 and I remember some years ago it was the fashion 

 for physicians to speak of physiology in a somewhat 

 patronising way as the " Handmaid of medicine." 

 One does not often hear this expression nowadays, 



