A Practical Physiology

A Practical Physiology, subtitled A Text-Book for Higher Schools, is by Albert F. Blaisdell. The preface says the author aimed to prepare a text-book on human physiology for use in higher schools. The preface says the design of the book is to furnish a practical manual of the more important facts and principles of physiology and hygiene, adapted to the needs of students in high schools, normal schools, and academies.

The text gives advice on bathing, saying outdoor bathing should not be taken for at least an hour after a full meal and that the practice of bathing in salt water more than once a day is unhealthful. The text cites the Annual Report of New York State Reformatory, for 1896, on drunkenness among the inmates, and quotes the words that there is a marked tendency in nature to transmit all diseased conditions. The text describes the trachea as a tube about three-fourths of an inch in diameter, and about four inches long, and says the walls of the windpipe are strengthened by a series of cartilaginous rings.