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. Every thoughtful young person must have asked himself a hundred questions about the problems of human life: how it can be that the few articles of our daily food—milk, bread, meats, and similar things—build up our complex bodies, and by what strange magic they are transformed into hair, skin, teeth, bones, muscles, and blood. How is it that we can lift these curtains of our eyes and behold all the wonders of the world around us, then drop the lids, and though at noonday, are instantly in total darkness? How does the minute structure of the ear report to us with equal accuracy the thunder of the tempest, and the hum of the passing bee? Why is breathing so essential to our life, and why cannot we stop breathing when we try? Where within us, and how, burns the mysterious fire whose subtle heat warms us from the first breath of infancy till the last hour of life? These and scores of similar questions it is the province of this deeply interesting study of physiology to answer.