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Untitled Article
have usually failed in another ; arid the power of lucidly combining and arranging ascertained truths h ^ s not HitheHo been put forth . Dr . Smith justly observes , that , Excepting as a qualification for the practice of surgery and
fnedicme , in the curriculum of no school or college in the kingdofn id an explanation of the structure and functions of the human body included . As a qualification for no profession or pursuit , in the curriculum of no school or college in England is an explanation of the phenomena of the human mind , and of the laws thai govern the formation and direction of its intellectual powers , included /
This is the want which it is the author ' s object to supply . He has a distinct perception of the task which he undertakes , and of its universal importance . * The object of the present work is to give a btief and plain account of the structure and functions of the body , chiefly with reference to
health and disease . This is intended to be introductory to an account of the constitution of the mind , chiefly with reference ta this developement and direction of its powers . There is a natural contrition between these subjects , and an advantage in studying them in their natural qrrler . Structure must be known before function can be understood : hence the
science of physiology is based on that of anatomy . The mind is dependent on the body t hence an acquaintance with the physiology of the body should precede the study of the physiology of the mind . The constitution of the mind must be understood before ltd powers fcnd affections can be properly developed and directed : hence a knowledge of the physiology of the mind is essential to a sound view of education and morals . ' p . 1 . *** ***
* Physical science has become the subject of popular attention , and men of the highest endowments , who have devoted their lives to the cultivation of this department ot knowledge , conceive that they can make no better use of the treasures they have accumulated , than that of diffusing them . Of this part of the great field of knowledge , to make u the rotlgh places plain , and the crooked places straight , " is deemed A
labour second in importance only to that of extending the boundaries of the field itself . But ho attempt has hitherto been made to exhibit a clear and comprehensive view of the phenomena of life ; the ofganization upon which those phenomena depend ; the physical agents essential to their production , and the laws , as far as they hare yel been discovered * according to which those agents act . The consequence is , that people in general , not excepting the educated class , are wholly
ignorant 01 the structure and action of the organs of their own bodies , the circumstances which are conducive to their own health , th p agents whfdli ordinarily produce disease , and , the means fey which th $ operation of such agents may be avoided or counteracted ; and they can hardly be &aid to possess more information relative to the connexi ' ot * betweett the organization of the bddy and the qualities of the hiind , the physical condition arid the mental state ; the laws which regulate the production , combination , and succession 6 f the trains df pleasurable aMj&ihfui thdughi , and the rules deducible from those laws , having foi their object
Untitled Article
154 The Philosophy qf Health .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), March 2, 1835, page 154, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2643/page/10/
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