Excerpt from The Principles of Physiology: Applied to the Preservation of Health, and to the Improvement of Physical and Mental Education It is true, that almost every medical man, sooner or later, works out this knowledge for himself; but, in general, be attains it later than he ought to do, and seldom so completely as he would have done had it been made a part of his elementary education, to'which he saw others attach importance. In my own instance, it was only when entering upon prac tice that I had first occasion to feel and to observe the evils arising from the ignorance which prevails in society in regard to it. Impressed afterward more deeply than ever with the interest and utility of the study, I contributed two or three articles on the subject to one of our periodical journals, and re solved to make them the basis, at some future time, of a more detailed and connected exposition. This I have now attempted and, if the result prove use ful, in any degree, to the general reader or profes sional student, my object will be attained. The volume being of a purely elementary character, and admitted truths of a useful kind being, in every in stance, preferred to novelty or ingenious specula tion, the experienced practitioner will meet with lit tle to interest him in the perusal but for him it was never intended. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.