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A Practical Physiology by Albert F. Blaisdell
page 7 of 552 (01%)
but by means of food is continually restoring its substance and
replenishing its stock of energy. A great deal of energy thus stored up is
utilized as mechanical work, the result of physical movements. We shall
learn later on that much of the energy which at last leaves the body as
heat, exists for a time within the organism in other forms than heat,
though eventually transformed into heat. Even a slight change in the
surroundings of the living body may rapidly, profoundly, and in special
ways affect not only the amount, but the kind of energy set free. Thus the
mere touch of a hair may lead to such a discharge of energy, that a body
previously at rest may be suddenly thrown into violent convulsions. This
is especially true in the case of tetanus, or lockjaw.

The main problem we have to solve in the succeeding pages is to ascertain
how it is that our bodies can renew their substance and replenish the
energy which they are continually losing, and can, according to the nature
of their surroundings, vary not only the amount, but the kind of energy
which they set free.

5. Technical Terms Defined. All living organisms are studied usually
from two points of view: first, as to their form and structure; second, as
to the processes which go on within them. The science which treats of all
living organisms is called biology. It has naturally two
divisions,--morphology, which treats of the form and structure of
living beings, and physiology, which investigates their functions, or
the special work done in their vital processes.

The word anatomy, however, is usually employed instead of morphology.
It is derived from two Greek words, and means the science of dissection.
Human anatomy then deals with the form and structure of the human
body, and describes how the different parts and organs are arranged, as
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