PREFACE

In presenting the following pages to the public, the compiler does not do it because no works have been written upon this subject, nor because his researches in the study of the human system have been greater than that of others. Many, and able works have been written, but the best of them are quite large, so that many will not take time to read them, even if their means would permit their owning them. In many treatises on physiology there are thoughts presented, important indeed to the physician, but which fail to interest the common reader.HBH iii.1

Seeing a necessity for a work which should, in as brief a manner as possible, give some general ideas of the structure, functions, and care of the human system, I have been induced to prepare the following pages; not so much as an original production as a compilation of general ideas from different authors, simplifying, in some instances, their language to the capacity of the common reader.HBH iii.2

The author would here acknowledge the use of the experience, researches, and writings of such men as GRAHAM, TRALL, LAMBERT, HITCHCOCK, MENDENHALL, TAYLOR, and many others, and commend their writings, especially Graham’s Lectures on the Science of Human Life, and Dr. R. T. Trall’s Hydropathic Encyclopedia, to the perusal of those who are able, and who wish to go into a deeper investigation of these matters.HBH iii.3

In arranging this book, the form of questions and answers has been chosen, not because it is especially designed for a school book,-although it might be thus used, by still other questions being propounded by the teacher,-but to impress more forcibly the mind of the reader.HBH iv.1

In the explanations of the few cuts that are introduced, I have tried to give the use of the different parts illustrated, rather than perplex the mind with technical terms. Now, that the task is completed, these pages are commended to your candid perusal with the hope that they may prove a source of good in correcting wrong habits, inculcating temperance, and a regard to the sacred laws implanted in our own natures, and thus bless the minds and bodies of thousands. J. N. LOUGHBOROUGH.HBH iv.2

Battle Creek, Mich., Jan. 1, 1868.HBH iv.3