Observations on normal growth and development of the human body under systematized exercise : read in the Section on Physiology, First Pan-American Medical Congress, Washington, D.C., September 5-8, 1893 / by Henry G. Beyer.

  • Beyer, Henry Gustav, 1850-1918.
Date:
[1894?]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Observations on normal growth and development of the human body under systematized exercise : read in the Section on Physiology, First Pan-American Medical Congress, Washington, D.C., September 5-8, 1893 / by Henry G. Beyer. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

    1/26 (page 141)
    formed in the organism by the change of tissue is augmented, as well as the ni- trogenous constituents of the excretions. (Bocker, Brit, and Foreign Med. Chir. Rev., Vol. XIV.) Pfluger’s views, in opposition to Voit’s, assume that the proteid matter of the cell itself, “the organ-, ilbumen,” undergoes decomposition the more readily; and recently Schondorff (Archiv. f. d. gesammte physiologie, Band, liv, p. 4:0) has shown that the rate of decomposition of proteid matter in a, tissue depends upon the nutritive condition of the cells themselves, and not upjjbnj albumen in the blood, lymph and other liuids bathing the cells. But thoughlfh^ organ-albu- men may play the leading part in proteid metabolism of normal nutpitioil, the store-albumen would seem to be still the most vulnerable and apjjarent pabulum for the suddenly acquired microorganisms, the “ contagium vivum.” J. Meyer's investigations (Hoffman and Schwalbe's Jahi'esbencht. 1881) show that when the tissues are full of disintegration products the effect of water in increasing elimi- nation is very marked, and that upon the wasting processes of the body the water exerts no influence. Dr. H. C. Wood, quoting the above, adds “that while we can not by water produce tissue disintegration, we can by it wash out the retained products of tis- sue change.” In conclusion, I may add that the present generally accepted treatment of con- tinued fevers, based upon scientific principles, is becoming more and more suc- cessful. A certain number of cases are unquestionably aborted by the cautious use of internal antiseptic remedies and calomel: mostcasesare benefited through- out their course by the ingestion of much water, and the greater percentage of all cases are successfully treated by the system of baths and hydrotherapy intro- duced by Brandt. OBSERVATIONS ON NORMAL GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE HUMAN BODY UNDER SYSTEMATIZED EXERCISE- READ IN THE SECTION ON PHYSIOLOGY, FIRST PAN-AMER- ICAN MEDICAL CONGRESS, WASHINGTON, D. C., SEPTEMBER 5-8, 1893. By Henry G. Beyer, Surgeon, U. S. Navy. Some of our best naturalists inform us that the first living things on this globe must have been microscopic monocellular organisms, inhabiting the surface of the great oceans and leading a free-swimming existence, like the protozoa, their direct descendants, of the present day. Nearly all of them furthermore agree, I think, that there could have been no departure whatever from this monocellu- larism of existence, no aggregation of cells to build up more complicated organ- isms could have taken place until some of these protozoa began to assume a ses- sile form of existence at the bottom of the ocean, whereby nutriment came to them in the current flowing by them, instead of their having to everlastingly hunt for it and thus expend all their available energy in this direction only. The law of growth and development, in other words,'depends on alternate rest and activity, and is one of the oldest and most fundamental in its relation to life in general. Where and however we may study life, whether it is during the embryonic conditions of the higher organisms, or in the adult conditions of both high and low forms of life, we recognize everywhere the existence of resting stages alternating with stages of activity. * Thus in the higher animals we find the corpuscles of blood and lymph ever active and in constant motion, microscopically small. According to the laws of growth they must remain so, but at the bottom of this sea of blood and lymph we find a number of sessile organs, aggregations of cells belonging to the same organ- ism, and made possible only under the same law of alternate rest and activity. Further reflection and observation have shown this great and fundamental natural law to be at the bottom not only of the evolution of all living forms at present existing, but we can observe it and study its influence in every individ- ual living being. It is consequently clear, then, that growth and development of the human body must be subject to the same unerring laws, and in order that they shall exert their most favorable influence on the formation of that body they must be duly observed and properly administered. Exercise, alternating with rest, then, are the two most important factors with which scientific physical training will have to deal for the purpose of producing the highest results.