Mineral Point weekly tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1859-1868, 1859-03-08
PHYSIOLOGICAL LETTERS.-No. w.


cipally concerned about the healthy func-
tions of living beings; and we may now
add that another object of the science, is
10 classify. digest, and arrange the phe-
ncmena of organized bodies, with a view
to determine those general laws or prn-
c,ples, an enumeration of which, would
express the conditions of their occurrence :;
for no rehecting mind can acquire The
facts of Physiology without being forced
to notice that they are connected together
by kind OF invisible chain in other
words. that they are "govorned by laws :"
as invariable as those regulating the
movements Of the heavenly bodies, or
the actions of the inorganic elements of
matter. In speaking of the "laws of na-
ture,' however, we do not attach the
same idea of coerciveness to those claws :"
as is frequently done by those who make
much use of such expressions.
BY the phrase claw of nature" we
understand nothing more than kind of
formula, according to which any given
phenomenon seems to occur in fact, a
mere generalization, from observation. of
the conditions under which any phenom-
enon or assemblage of phenomena occurs,
so far as those conditions are cognizable
to our senses. This generalization amounts
TO little more than a recognition of the
uniformiiies IN the occurrence of phe-
nomena and an inference therefrom, that
cur in the future. In this sense, which
appears to be the only one sanctioned by
science, the notion of necessity is entirely
excluded from our concepton On Of the laws
of nature !" SO that when we use the ex-
preston, we shall only mean certain
GENERAL RULE or FORMULA IN accor-
dance with which any given phenomenon
happens, at the same time implying be-
lief that the rule will hold good in time
to come.
Thus, to bring an illustration from
GENERAL PHYSICS: Experience teaches,
that all bodies tend toward each other
with forces directly proportional to their re-
spective masses, and inversly as the square
of their distances. This generalization is
the LAW of gravItation, the most general
of any with which we are acquai nted.-
Here, what we term the LAW, is merely
the rule; an expression comprehending
all the individual instances of observation,
and also an inference that will be no ex-
ception TO the rule in the future and yet
In all this there is no coercion IN the law
All there is of necessity, lies in something
beyond; in the FORCE we call gravitation.
not in the law that expresses the mode
of its operation.
Or TO draw from NATURAL HISTORY or
PARTICULAR physics, the law of CELL
GROWTH, which holds nearly the same
rank in Physiology that gravitation does
in Physics, comprises these two general
iza,ions, viz, 1st, that all organized be-
ing. originate In cells; and 2nd, that all
the functions of living bodies, even in
adolescence, are carried on solely through
the growth and decay of cells. These
general propositions have been estab-
lished after numerous and repeated OBJ
servalions of individual instances In which
no exceptions have been noticed; and as
they are concentrations of all the known
facts bearing on the subject, we accept
the two propositions together. as the
law" or the rule of the development
and growth of organized beings.
When once these uniformities in nature
come to be recognized and established
or when we come TO unde stand the SO
called "laws of nature" we then begin
10 grasp the principles underlying the
sciences. Science is methodized knowl-
edge, and has for It's object, the establish
ment of those principles which become
the rules of practice in the Art founded
upon it. Science deals with principle:
only, while Art is wholly conc.rned with
works.
Thus the principles of physiology be
come the rules of practice In the AIT o
Hygiene, IN the same manner that Pa
thology - which has been apuy definec
the =. Physiology of Disease "-furnlshe
the principles which are the only SAT
rules of practice in the Healing Art.
ln our next we shall have something
TO say about sensation and volltlon.
EN. - will be thorough" should b
the motto OF the teacher w ith thi. moi
to rigidly followed, he wiii avoid nan
of the errors and omissions Of whIch b