CHAPTER IX 
THE RISE OF PHYSIOLOGY 
Harvey HALLER JOHANNES MULLER 
PuysioLocy had a parallel development with anatomy, 
but for convenience it will be considered separately. Anatomy 
shows us that animals and plants are wonderfully con- 
structed, but after we understand their architecture and even 
their minute structure, the questions remain, What arc all 
the organs and tissues for? and what takes place within the 
parts that are actually alive? Physiology attempts to answer 
questions of this nature. It stands, therefore, in contrast 
with anatomy, and is supplementary to it. The activities of 
living organisms are varied, and depend on life for their 
manifestations. These manifestations may be called vital 
activities. Physiology embraces a study of them all. 
Physiology of the Ancients.—This subject began to at- 
tract the attention of ancient medical men who wished to 
fathom the activities of the body in order to heal its diseases, 
but it is such a difficult thing to begin to comprehend the 
activities of life that even the simpler relationships were im- 
perfectly understood, and they resorted to mythical explana- 
tions. They spoke of spirits and humors in the body as 
causes of various changes; the arteries were supposed to 
carry air, the veins only blood; and nothing was known of the 
circulation. There arose among these early medical men 
the idea that the body was dominated by a subtle spirit. 
This went under the name pneuma, and the pneuma-theory 
held sway until the period of the Revival of Learning. 
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