THE ENGINES OF THE HUMAN BODY.*
ALTHOUGH general interest is now taken in the numerous diseases which afflict mankind, and there is a keen desire to limit and, if possible, eradicate them, it has not been commonly held that a liberal education should include even an elementary knowledge of the normal physiological functions of the body, deviation from which normal constitutes disease. Such an elementary knowledge seems to us to be not only a desideratum but an essential of education, if the rising generation is to face satisfactorily the problems of reconstruction of national life, among which is the problem of how to improve national health. A little knowledge of disease, especially when coupled with an almost complete ignorance of anatomy and physiology, is more often than not most harmful to the possesses. On the other hand, we are prepared to answer with an affirma- tive Professor Keith's question : " Will not boys and girls grow into wiser, perhaps happier, men and women if they know about the machinery of their own bodies ? "
The desirability of such instruction being conceded, we must, however, confess that, in spite of our faith in the lecturer, whose lectures are set forth in this volume, his temerity in chosing such a subject for Christmas lectures to boys and girls roused feelings of anxiety. Necessary as a knowledge of the human body may be, could the interest of these young people in this subject be maintained throughout a course of lectures given during their Christmas holidays ? We have no information as to the numbers attending these lectures, but we feel sure after reading the book that our fears were groundless, and that Professor Keith fully succeeded in exciting and maintaining the interest of his young hearers. Boys and girls nowadays are very keen on all that pertains to motors, and it was a brilliant idea which led the lecturer to begin by describing the ordinary internal- combustion engine and then comparing it with the muscles of the body. The internal-combustion engine is a triumph of engineering science, yet Professor Keith had no difficulty in showing how much more wonderful are those internal-com- bustion engines of the human body, the muscles. And then the marvel of their co-ordination, their regulation ! Why, " in taking only a single step almost every one of the muscles or engines of the lower limbs-108 in number—are set going, not all at once but in a definite and wonderfully regulated order."
As the lecturer passes from muscles to bones, to heart and lungs, the interest never fails, and the comparison with human mechanical contrivances is maintained throughout. We have not space to give more than the headings of some of the lectures, but these will suffice to show the line of argument—" A Perfect Lubricating System," A Pair of Living Bellows," " Workshops and Laboratories," " A Postal System," " Automatic Telephone Exchanges "—this very appropriate at the present time- " In the Repairing Shops." What would be more likely to appeal to boy or girl ? This master anatomist surely was justified of his choice of a subject.
In conclusion, we should like to call the reader's attention to a very clear account of Harvey's demonstration of the action of the heart and the circulation of the blood; but a full under- standing of the difficulties this great investigator had to over- come cannot be appreciated unless one knows the views prevalent in Harvey's time. The lecturer recognizes this, and gives the most lucid account of these views we have ever read. Fabricius's view that blood passed from one side of the heart to the other by a process of sweating seems absurd now, but when enunciated satisfied the anatomists of the period, and no doubt appeared no more absurd to them than Harvey's theory that there existed channels of • communication, not discovered until many years after Harvey's death, between the arteries and the veins.
• The Engines of the Humus Body. By Arthur Keith. M.D.. LL.B. (AWL), F.R.B London : Williams and ilorgate. [12s. 6d. nei.]
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