Text-Books of Histology.—Besides the works mentioned, the text-books of Frey, Stricker, Ranvier, Klein, Schäfer, and others represent a period in the general introduction of histology to students between 1859 and 1885. But these excellent text-books have been largely superseded by the more recent ones of Stöhr, Boem-Davidoff, Piersol, Szymonowicz, and others. The number of living investigators in histology is enormous; and their work in the subject of cell-structure and in the department of embryology now overlaps.
In pathological histology may be observed an illustration of the application of biological studies to medicine. While no attempt is made to give an account of these practical applications, they are of too great importance to go unmentioned. Histological methods are in constant use in clinical diagnosis, as in blood counts, the study of inflammations, of the action of phagocytes, and of all manner of abnormal growths.
In attempting to trace the beginning of a definite foundation for the work on the structure of tissues, we go back to Bichat rather than to Leeuwenhoek, as Richardson has proposed. Bichat was the first to give a scientific basis for histology founded on extensive observations, since all earlier observers gave only separated accounts of the structure of particular tissues.
THE RISE OF PHYSIOLOGY
Harvey Haller Johannes Müller
Physiology had a parallel development with anatomy, but for convenience it will be considered separately. Anatomy shows us that animals and plants are wonderfully constructed, but after we understand their architecture and even their minute structure, the questions remain, What are 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 attract 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 imperfectly understood, and they resorted to mythical explanations. 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.