If it becomes necessary to shorten the course in physiology, the various sections printed in smaller type may be omitted or used for home study.

The laws of most of the states now require in our public schools the study of the effects of alcoholic drinks, tobacco, and other narcotics upon the bodily life. This book will be found to comply fully with all such laws.

The author has aimed to embody in simple and concise language the latest and most trustworthy information which can be obtained from the standard authorities on modern physiology, in regard to the several topics.

In the preparation of this text-book the author has had the editorial help of his esteemed friend, Dr. J. E. Sanborn, of Melrose, Mass., and is also indebted to the courtesy of Thomas E. Major, of Boston, for assistance in revising the proofs.

Albert F. Blaisdell.

Boston, August, 1897.

CONTENTS.

[Chapter I]Introduction
[Chapter II]The Bones
[Chapter III]The Muscles
[Chapter IV]Physical Exercise
[Chapter V]Food and Drink
[Chapter VI]Digestion
[Chapter VII]The Blood and Its Circulation
[Chapter VIII]Respiration
[Chapter IX]The Skin and the Kidneys
[Chapter X]The Nervous System
[Chapter XI]The Special Sense
[Chapter XII]The Throat and the Voice
[Chapter XIII]Accidents and Emergencies
[Chapter XIV]In Sickness and in Health

Care of the Sick-Room; Poisons and their Antidotes; Bacteria;
Disinfectants; Management of Contagious Diseases.
[Chapter XV]Experimental Work in Physiology

Practical Experiments; Use of the Microscope; Additional Experiments;
Surface Anatomy and Landmarks.

[Glossary]
[Index]

Chapter I.
Introduction.

1. The Study of Physiology. We are now to take up a new study, and in a field quite different from any we have thus far entered. Of all our other studies,—mathematics, physics, history, language,—not one comes home to us with such peculiar interest as does physiology, because this is the study of ourselves.