September IS, lao.i.] 



SCIENCE. 



357 



ism. ' That this fact is not with most peo- 

 ple a part of the philosophy of living is 

 shown bj- the use and abuse of patent med- 

 icines and the frequent neglect of the com- 

 monest care of the body, sucli as would be 

 wisely bestowed on a watch or a bicycle. 



AVe have urged that anatomy has no 

 place in the public school curriculum ex- 

 cept as it is necessary to the undei-stand- 

 ing of the problems of physiology and hy- 

 giene; and we shall see it cut down to the 

 minimum needed for this purpose without 

 the slightest regret. We should not feel 

 the same if physiolog.y were similarly made 

 strictly subservient to personal hygiene, 

 that is, if, in doing so, its philosophical 

 value were neglected ; but, fortunately, this 

 is not necessary. The physiology which 

 is most useful in understanding the prob- 

 lems of pei*sonal hygiene is almost exactly 

 the same body of facts which has the great- 

 est philosophic value; and the method of 

 presenting them is the same for the one 

 purpose as for the other. We have not the 

 time to enter into details in this matter, but 

 we are speaking from experience and are 

 sure of our ground. The instruction in 

 physiolog\' should aim at the outlines of 

 the more important functions of muscular 

 contraction, nervous activity, circulation, 

 nutrition, temperature regulation— all of 

 these expressed as far as possible in terms 

 of physics and chemistry. It should en- 

 deavor to avoid needless details. For ex- 

 ample, the pupil should understand that 

 the heart is a force pump, hut it is not 

 necessary that he should understand the 

 exact structure or meclianisni of the auri- 

 eulo-ventricular valves. 



Again, physiology should not be made 

 jtrimarily, or even to any large extent, in 

 liublie schools, a ineans of laboratory train- 

 ing. Such training can be had more read- 

 ily and more advantageously in chemistry 

 and physics. To attempt to give the same 

 laboratoi-y training in physiologj^ as in 

 these subjects would inevitably be to con- 



sume precious time which is urgently 

 needed for hygiene. The fundamental 

 facts of physiology can be demonstrated 

 and enforced in the laboratory, even in 

 common schools, without mvich difficulty, 

 and we would not for a moment depreciate 

 the value or the necessity of a certain 

 amount of this kind of instruction; but 

 the use of the laboratory (always time- 

 consuming) must not be allowed to dis- 

 tract attention from the true function of 

 physiology and hygiene or to interfere 

 with its fruitful realization. 



A cour.se of moderate length in phys- 

 iologj- should suffice to impart enough 

 facts of structure and function to furnish 

 a solid basis for sound training in hygiene, 

 and to give meanwhile an abiding sense of 

 the material composition and mechanical 

 character of the hinnan body and some 

 luiowledge of its environment and opera- 

 tion. With so much of preparation it is 

 easy to pass on to a practical consideration 

 of health and disease, the means of pi-omot- 

 ing the former and of avoiding the latter. 

 Health becomes simply normal, disease abN 

 normal, living. Such terms as 'constitu- 

 tion.' 'strength,' 'weakness,' 'feebleness,' 

 'robustness,' are easily understood by con- 

 stant reference to mechanisms, well or 

 poorly made, or to structures, strong or 

 weak. Wounds become interference caused 

 by invasions or damage by extraneous mat- 

 ters — bullets, knives, pai'asites, clubs, dogs, 

 slivers — which are as obviously out of place 

 in living mechanisms as dirt in the works 

 of watches. Germs are microscopic in- 

 vaders, microscopic parasites. They enter 

 and wound and kill, not mysteriously, biit 

 by damaging or interfering with the hu- 

 man mechanism. Best of all, they can 

 often be kept out by the avoidance of ex- 

 posure, as truly as bullets can. 



Passing on to the strictly hygienic part 

 of the subject, first in logical sequence 

 conu's pei-sonal hygiene, the proper regu- 

 lation of the activities of individual life— 



