"HE word "physiology," or "physiological science," is difficult to define. According to its etymology we should interpret it as the science of life or animation (que). The word "life" or "animation" characterizes the phenomena which exist in a living being. These phenomena are quite complex, and the history of science presents a crowd of definitions, all of which are influenced by the inadequate state of the knowledge resulting from observation at different periods.
If, in the actual state of our anatomical knowledge, we examine the organic elements of a living being, we find that by their aspect alone we can divide these into two classes. One class is thus represented by the purely mechanical (vessels, fibres) or chemical office (different fluids) which these elements must render to the organism. Those of the second class appear to us at first inexplicable (globular forms, cells 2), if we consider their functions either as mechanical or chemical.
If, on the contrary, we examine the acts of which the living being is the theatre, we meet a great number of physical and
1 An attempt has been made to substitute for the word “physiology" that of "biology," which, by its etymology, does not signify science of life, but the different phases of life.
2 We purposely employ the words "cell" and "globules indifferently, though we own to our preference for the word "globule."