CALIFORNIA

FIRST BOOK

IN

PHYSIOLOGY.

FOR THE USE OF

SCHOOLS AND FAMILIES,

INTENDED AS INTRODUCTORY TO THE LARGER WORK
BY THE SAME AUTHOR.

BY WORTHINGTON HOOKER, M. D.,

PROFESSOR OF THE THEORY AND PRACTICE OF MEDICINE IN YALE COLLEGE;
AUTHOR OF PHYSICIAN AND PATIENT, ," "HUMAN PHYSIOLOGY," ETC.

ILLUSTRATED BY ENGRAVINGS.

NEW YORK:

PRATT, OAKLEY AND COMPANY.
NO. 4 CORTLANDT STREET.

1857.

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ENTERED according to Act of Congress, in the Year One Thousand Eight Hundred and Fifty-five, by WORTHINGTON HOOKER, M. D., in tho Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States, for the District of Connecticut.

EDUCATION DEPT.

JONES & DENYSE, STEREOTYPERS, 183 William-street, New York.

PREFACE.

THIS book is intended for beginners in the study of Physiology, of whatever age they may be. It is a "First Book" for the adult as well as for the child. There is more in common between young and adult minds, in regard to a subject which is new to them, than is commonly supposed. There is for both the same need of simple, clear, and precise statement, with familiar illustration. A book intended to instruct a child in any science should be so written, that it will be just as instructive to an adult unacquainted with the subject. Not only so, but it should be so written, that it will interest and please a mind that has a full knowledge of the subject, by its logical and clear development of simple fundamental facts and principles.

It is a common error to suppose, that there need not to be as logical a presentation of a subject in teaching children as in teaching adults. A correct logic, in the true sense of that word, is necessary in either case. In teaching any science, no matter what the age of the scholar may be, a natural, that is, a logical, arrangement of the facts and principles, is essential to success. Indeed, it is more essential at the outset than it is subsequently, for the beginner lays the very foundations of his knowledge, upon which in his course of learning afterwards he builds up the superstructure. It is the simple facts and principles of science, such as should be taught to the beginner, that are fundamental. In order that he may begin right, he must acquire a clear idea of these.

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