63-440: George Henry Lewes ( / ˈ l uː ɪ s / ; 18 April 1817 – 30 November 1878) was an English philosopher and critic of literature and theatre. He was also an amateur physiologist . American feminist Margaret Fuller called Lewes a "witty, French, flippant sort of man". He became part of the mid- Victorian ferment of ideas which encouraged discussion of Darwinism , positivism , and religious skepticism . However, he
126-588: A living system . As a subdiscipline of biology , physiology focuses on how organisms , organ systems , individual organs , cells , and biomolecules carry out chemical and physical functions in a living system. According to the classes of organisms , the field can be divided into medical physiology , animal physiology , plant physiology , cell physiology , and comparative physiology . Central to physiological functioning are biophysical and biochemical processes, homeostatic control mechanisms, and communication between cells. Physiological state
189-513: A monistic doctrine that mind and matter are two aspects of the same existence by attending simply to the parallelism between psychical and physical processes as a given fact (or probable fact) of our experience, leaving out of account their relation as subject and object in the cognitive act. His identification of the two as phases of one existence is open to criticism not only from the point of view of philosophy but from that of science. In his treatment of such ideas as "sensibility", "sentience" and
252-424: A Creed laid down Lewes's foundation – a rapprochement between metaphysics and science. He was still positivist enough to pronounce all inquiry into the ultimate nature of things fruitless: what matter, form, and spirit are in themselves is a futile question that belongs to the sterile region of "metempirics". But philosophical questions may be susceptible to a precise solution through scientific method . Thus, since
315-653: A bell and visual stimuli. In the 19th century, physiological knowledge began to accumulate at a rapid rate, in particular with the 1838 appearance of the Cell theory of Matthias Schleiden and Theodor Schwann . It radically stated that organisms are made up of units called cells. Claude Bernard 's (1813–1878) further discoveries ultimately led to his concept of milieu interieur (internal environment), which would later be taken up and championed as " homeostasis " by American physiologist Walter B. Cannon in 1929. By homeostasis, Cannon meant "the maintenance of steady states in
378-609: A charitable trust, the Friends of Highgate Cemetery Trust, which was set up in 1975 and acquired the freehold of both East and West sides by 1981. In 1984 it published Highgate Cemetery: Victorian Valhalla by John Gay . The Egyptian Avenue and the Circle of Lebanon (previously surmounted by a huge, 280 years old Cedar of Lebanon , which had to be cut down and replaced in August 2019) are both Grade I listed buildings . The west side of
441-850: A club formed for the study of philosophy, and had sketched out a physiological treatment of the philosophy of the Scottish school . Two years later he went to Germany, probably with the intention of studying philosophy. Lewes undertook studies on nutrition and physiology; he explored the question whether sugar was injurious to teeth. He conducted experiments on the reflexes and the nervous system of living animals, especially frogs, using ether and chloroform out of consideration for their pain. He became friends with Leigh Hunt , and through him he entered London literary society and met John Stuart Mill , Thomas Carlyle and Charles Dickens . On 18 February 1841, Lewes married 19-year-old Agnes Jervis, daughter of Swynfen Stevens Jervis , who gave written permission for
504-543: A complex unity of which the highest processes are identical with and evolved out of the lower. Thus the operation of thought, or "the logic of signs", is a more complicated form of the elementary operations of sensation and instinct or "the logic of feeling". The last volume of the Problems illustrates this position. It is a valuable repository of psychological facts, many of them drawn from obscure regions of mental life and from abnormal experience. To suggest and to stimulate
567-503: A distinct subdiscipline. In 1920, August Krogh won the Nobel Prize for discovering how, in capillaries, blood flow is regulated. In 1954, Andrew Huxley and Hugh Huxley, alongside their research team, discovered the sliding filaments in skeletal muscle , known today as the sliding filament theory. Recently, there have been intense debates about the vitality of physiology as a discipline (Is it dead or alive?). If physiology
630-459: A medical field originates in classical Greece , at the time of Hippocrates (late 5th century BC). Outside of Western tradition, early forms of physiology or anatomy can be reconstructed as having been present at around the same time in China , India and elsewhere. Hippocrates incorporated the theory of humorism , which consisted of four basic substances: earth, water, air and fire. Each substance
693-465: A plan to provide seven large, modern cemeteries , now known as the " Magnificent Seven ", around the outside of central London. The inner-city cemeteries, mostly the graveyards attached to individual churches, had long been unable to cope with the number of burials and were seen as a hazard to health and an undignified way to treat the dead. The initial design was by architect and entrepreneur Stephen Geary . On Monday 20 May 1839, Highgate (West) Cemetery
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#1732782651307756-555: A retired sea captain when he was six. Frequent changes of home meant he was educated in London, Jersey , and Brittany and finally at Dr Charles Burney 's school in Greenwich . Having abandoned successively a commercial and a medical career, he seriously thought of becoming an actor and appeared several times on stage between 1841 and 1850. Finally he devoted himself to literature, science and philosophy. As early as 1836, he belonged to
819-430: A unified science of life based on the cell actions, later renamed in the 20th century as cell biology . In the 20th century, biologists became interested in how organisms other than human beings function, eventually spawning the fields of comparative physiology and ecophysiology . Major figures in these fields include Knut Schmidt-Nielsen and George Bartholomew . Most recently, evolutionary physiology has become
882-528: Is a place of burial in north London , England, designed by architect Stephen Geary . There are approximately 170,000 people buried in around 53,000 graves across the West and East sides. Highgate Cemetery is notable both for some of the people buried there as well as for its de facto status as a nature reserve . The Cemetery is designated Grade I on the Register of Historic Parks and Gardens . The cemetery
945-550: Is a subdiscipline of botany concerned with the functioning of plants. Closely related fields include plant morphology , plant ecology , phytochemistry , cell biology , genetics , biophysics , and molecular biology . Fundamental processes of plant physiology include photosynthesis , respiration , plant nutrition , tropisms , nastic movements , photoperiodism , photomorphogenesis , circadian rhythms , seed germination , dormancy , and stomata function and transpiration . Absorption of water by roots, production of food in
1008-427: Is achieved through communication that occurs in a variety of ways, both electrical and chemical. Changes in physiology can impact the mental functions of individuals. Examples of this would be the effects of certain medications or toxic levels of substances. Change in behavior as a result of these substances is often used to assess the health of individuals. Much of the foundation of knowledge in human physiology
1071-712: Is also a Grade I listed building for reasons of historical importance. Fireman's corner is a monument erected in the East side by widows and orphans of members of the London Fire Brigade in 1934. There are 97 firemen buried here. The monument is cared for by the Brigade's Welfare Section. The cemetery contains the graves of 318 Commonwealth service personnel maintained and registered by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission , in both
1134-413: Is buried on the eastern side of Highgate Cemetery , beside the grave of his common-law wife Mary Ann Evans, penname George Eliot. Physiology Physiology ( / ˌ f ɪ z i ˈ ɒ l ə dʒ i / ; from Ancient Greek φύσις ( phúsis ) 'nature, origin' and -λογία ( -logía ) 'study of') is the scientific study of functions and mechanisms in
1197-400: Is essential for diagnosing and treating health conditions and promoting overall wellbeing. It seeks to understand the mechanisms that work to keep the human body alive and functioning, through scientific enquiry into the nature of mechanical, physical, and biochemical functions of humans, their organs, and the cells of which they are composed. The principal level of focus of physiology is at
1260-669: Is in Highgate N6, next to Waterlow Park , in the London Borough of Camden . It comprises two sides, on either side of Swain's Lane . The main gate is on Swain's Lane, just north of Oakshott Avenue. There is another, disused, gate on Chester Road. The nearest public transport ( Transport for London ) is the C11 bus, Brookfield Park stop, and Archway tube station . The cemetery in its original form – the northwestern wooded area – opened in 1839, as part of
1323-469: Is known for having a corresponding humor: black bile, phlegm, blood, and yellow bile, respectively. Hippocrates also noted some emotional connections to the four humors, on which Galen would later expand. The critical thinking of Aristotle and his emphasis on the relationship between structure and function marked the beginning of physiology in Ancient Greece . Like Hippocrates , Aristotle took to
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#17327826513071386-412: Is perhaps best known today for having openly lived with Mary Ann Evans, who wrote under the pen name George Eliot , as soulmates whose lives and writings were enriched by their relationship, though they never married each other. Lewes, born in London, was the illegitimate son of the minor poet John Lee Lewes and Elizabeth Ashweek, and the grandson of comic actor Charles Lee Lewes . His mother married
1449-580: Is perhaps less visible nowadays than during the golden age of the 19th century, it is in large part because the field has given birth to some of the most active domains of today's biological sciences, such as neuroscience , endocrinology , and immunology . Furthermore, physiology is still often seen as an integrative discipline, which can put together into a coherent framework data coming from various different domains. Initially, women were largely excluded from official involvement in any physiological society. The American Physiological Society , for example,
1512-555: Is the condition of normal function. In contrast, pathological state refers to abnormal conditions , including human diseases . The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine is awarded by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences for exceptional scientific achievements in physiology related to the field of medicine . Because physiology focuses on the functions and mechanisms of living organisms at all levels, from
1575-663: The Problems , are more fully worked out in the last two (3rd series). He discussed the method of psychology with much insight. Against Comte and his followers he claimed a place for introspection in psychological research. As well as this subjective method there must be an objective one, a reference to nervous conditions and socio-historical data. Biology would help explain mental functions such as feeling and thinking, it would not help us to understand differences of mental faculty in different races and stages of human development. The organic conditions of these differences will probably for ever escape detection, hence they can be explained only as
1638-517: The positivist stance. In the preface to the third edition of his History of Philosophy he avowed a change in this direction, and this movement is even more plainly discernible in subsequent editions of the work. The outcome of his intellectual progress is The Problems of Life and Mind . His sudden death cut short the work, yet it is complete enough to allow a judgment on the author's matured conceptions on biological, psychological and metaphysical problems. The first two volumes on The Foundations of
1701-621: The Cemetery is characterised by elaborate feature tombs, vaults and winding paths dug into hillsides. At the highest point, the Terrace Catacombs and the Tomb of Julius Beer are both Grade II* listed. Many famous or prominent people are buried on this side of Highgate cemetery; the most famous of which is perhaps that of Karl Marx , whose tomb was the site of attempted bombings on 2 September 1965 and in 1970. The tomb of Karl Marx
1764-418: The blood . Santorio Santorio in 1610s was the first to use a device to measure the pulse rate (the pulsilogium ), and a thermoscope to measure temperature. In 1791 Luigi Galvani described the role of electricity in the nerves of dissected frogs. In 1811, César Julien Jean Legallois studied respiration in animal dissection and lesions and found the center of respiration in the medulla oblongata . In
1827-421: The body and the physiological processes through which they are regulated." In other words, the body's ability to regulate its internal environment. William Beaumont was the first American to utilize the practical application of physiology. Nineteenth-century physiologists such as Michael Foster , Max Verworn , and Alfred Binet , based on Haeckel 's ideas, elaborated what came to be called "general physiology",
1890-421: The complete coincidence between the regions of nerve action and sentience, that these are but different aspects of one thing, he was able to attack the doctrine of animal and human automatism which affirms that feeling or consciousness is merely an incidental concomitant of nerve action in no way essential to the chain of physical events. Lewes's views on psychology , partly explained in the earlier volumes of
1953-489: The death rate from surgery by a substantial amount. The Physiological Society was founded in London in 1876 as a dining club. The American Physiological Society (APS) is a nonprofit organization that was founded in 1887. The Society is, "devoted to fostering education, scientific research, and dissemination of information in the physiological sciences." In 1891, Ivan Pavlov performed research on "conditional responses" that involved dogs' saliva production in response to
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2016-494: The differences of the peripheral structures or sense-organs with which they are connected. This idea was subsequently proposed independently by Wundt . In 1865, when The Fortnightly Review began publication, Lewes became its editor, but he retained the post for less than two years, when he was succeeded by John Morley . This marks the transition from more strictly scientific to philosophic work. Lewes had been interested in philosophy from early youth; one of his earliest essays
2079-446: The election of women was celebrated in 2015 with the publication of the book "Women Physiologists: Centenary Celebrations And Beyond For The Physiological Society." ( ISBN 978-0-9933410-0-7 ) Prominent women physiologists include: Human physiology Animal physiology Plant physiology Fungal physiology Protistan physiology Algal physiology Bacterial physiology Highgate Cemetery Highgate Cemetery
2142-552: The foundation of The Leader , of which he was the literary editor. In 1853, he republished under the title of Comte's Philosophy of the Sciences a series of papers which had appeared in that journal. The culmination of Lewes's work in prose literature is the Life of Goethe (1855), probably the best known of his writings. Lewes's versatility, and his combination of scientific with literary tastes, eminently fitted him to appreciate
2205-423: The higher functions of the nervous system, which make up our conscious mental life, are more complex modifications of this fundamental property of nerve substance. The nervous organism acts as a whole, particular mental operations cannot be referred to definite regions of the brain, and the hypothesis of nervous activity by an isolated pathway from one nerve cell to another is altogether illusory. By insisting on
2268-453: The houses of Lewes's mother and others. Lewes and Agnes Jervis agreed to have an open marriage . Between 1842 and 1848, Lewes and his wife had four sons together, Charles Lee, Thornton Arnott, Herbert Arthur, and St Vincent Arthy. Agnes also had four children by Lewes's best friend ( Thornton Hunt ), the son of Leigh Hunt . Because Lewes was named on the birth certificate as the father of one of these children despite knowing this to be false, he
2331-502: The humoral theory of disease, which also consisted of four primary qualities in life: hot, cold, wet and dry. Galen ( c. 130 –200 AD) was the first to use experiments to probe the functions of the body. Unlike Hippocrates, Galen argued that humoral imbalances can be located in specific organs, including the entire body. His modification of this theory better equipped doctors to make more precise diagnoses. Galen also played off of Hippocrates' idea that emotions were also tied to
2394-458: The humors, and added the notion of temperaments: sanguine corresponds with blood; phlegmatic is tied to phlegm; yellow bile is connected to choleric; and black bile corresponds with melancholy. Galen also saw the human body consisting of three connected systems: the brain and nerves, which are responsible for thoughts and sensations; the heart and arteries, which give life; and the liver and veins, which can be attributed to nutrition and growth. Galen
2457-410: The individual." In more differentiated organisms, the functional labor could be apportioned between different instruments or systems (called by him as appareils ). In 1858, Joseph Lister studied the cause of blood coagulation and inflammation that resulted after previous injuries and surgical wounds. He later discovered and implemented antiseptics in the operating room, and as a result, decreased
2520-402: The leaves, and growth of shoots towards light are examples of plant physiology. Human physiology is the study of how the human body's systems and functions work together to maintain a stable internal environment. It includes the study of the nervous, endocrine, cardiovascular, respiratory, digestive, and urinary systems, as well as cellular and exercise physiology. Understanding human physiology
2583-449: The level of organs and systems within systems. The endocrine and nervous systems play major roles in the reception and transmission of signals that integrate function in animals. Homeostasis is a major aspect with regard to such interactions within plants as well as animals. The biological basis of the study of physiology, integration refers to the overlap of many functions of the systems of the human body, as well as its accompanied form. It
George Henry Lewes - Misplaced Pages Continue
2646-448: The life of philosophers as an ever-renewed fruitless labour to attain the unattainable. In 1847–48, he published two novels – Ranthorpe , and Rose, Blanche and Violet – which, though displaying considerable skill in plot, construction, and characterisation, have taken no permanent place in literature. The same is to be said of an ingenious attempt to rehabilitate Robespierre (1849). In 1850, he collaborated with Thornton Leigh Hunt in
2709-411: The like, he does not always make it clear whether he is speaking of physical or of psychical phenomena. Among other philosophic questions discussed in these two volumes the nature of causal relation is perhaps the one which is handled with most freshness and suggestiveness. The third volume, The Physical Basis of Mind , further develops the writer's views on organic activities as a whole. He insists on
2772-463: The marriage and witnessed the wedding. There are several theories about how they met, such as Lewes working for Swynfen Jervis as a secretary or tutor for his sons. They may have met through Thornton Hunt 's circle of friends. Jervis was young, and considered "lovely", "charming", and intelligent. She took positions as a translator to augment the family's income. The couple lived in Kensington in
2835-418: The mind, rather than to supply it with any complete system of knowledge, may be said to be Lewes's service to philosophy. The exceptional rapidity and versatility of his intelligence seems to account at once for the freshness in his way of envisaging the subject matter of philosophy and psychology, and for the want of satisfactory elaboration and of systematic coordination. Lewes died on the 30 November 1878 and
2898-455: The molecular and cellular level to the level of whole organisms and populations, its foundations span a range of key disciplines: There are many ways to categorize the subdisciplines of physiology: Although there are differences between animal , plant , and microbial cells, the basic physiological functions of cells can be divided into the processes of cell division , cell signaling , cell growth , and cell metabolism . Plant physiology
2961-409: The notion of physiological division of labor, which allowed to "compare and study living things as if they were machines created by the industry of man." Inspired in the work of Adam Smith , Milne-Edwards wrote that the "body of all living beings, whether animal or plant, resembles a factory ... where the organs, comparable to workers, work incessantly to produce the phenomena that constitute the life of
3024-416: The original area, across Swain's Lane, was bought to form the eastern extension; this opened in 1860. Both sides of the Cemetery are still used today for burials. The cemetery's grounds are full of trees, shrubbery, and wildflowers, most of which have been planted and grown without human influence. The grounds are a haven for birds and small animals, such as foxes. The cemetery is now owned and maintained by
3087-483: The others of the Magnificent Seven, soon became a fashionable place for burials and was much admired and visited. The Victorian attitude to death and its presentation led to the creation of a wealth of Gothic tombs and buildings. It occupies a spectacular south-facing hillside site slightly downhill from the top of Highgate hill, next to Waterlow Park. In 1854 a further 19 acres (8 ha) to the south east of
3150-508: The products of the social environment. The relationship of mental phenomena to social and historical conditions is probably Lewes's most important contribution to psychology. He also emphasised the complexity of mental phenomena. Every mental state is regarded as compounded of three factors in different proportions – sensible affection, logical grouping and motor impulse. But Lewes's work in psychology consists less in discoveries than in method. His biological experience prepared him to view mind as
3213-411: The radical distinction between organic and inorganic processes and the impossibility of explaining the former by purely mechanical principles. All parts of the nervous system have the same elementary property; sensibility. Thus sensibility belongs as much to the lower centres of the spinal cord as to the brain, the former, more elementary, form contributing to the subconscious region of mental life, while
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#17327826513073276-498: The relation of subject to object falls within our experience, it is a proper matter for philosophic investigation. His treatment of the question of the relation of subject to object confused the scientific truth that mind and body coexist in the living organism and the philosophic truth that all knowledge of objects implies a knowing subject. In Shadworth Hodgson 's phrase, he mixed up the genesis of mental forms with their nature (see Philosophy of Reflexion , ii. 40–58). Thus he reached
3339-402: The results of individual research and individual reflection. He made several suggestions, some of which have since been accepted by physiologists , of which the most valuable is that now known as the doctrine of the functional indifference of the nerves – that what were known as the specific energies of the optic , auditory and other nerves are simply differences in their mode of action due to
3402-602: The same year, Charles Bell finished work on what would later become known as the Bell–Magendie law , which compared functional differences between dorsal and ventral roots of the spinal cord . In 1824, François Magendie described the sensory roots and produced the first evidence of the cerebellum's role in equilibration to complete the Bell–Magendie law. In the 1820s, the French physiologist Henri Milne-Edwards introduced
3465-670: The social reformers Miranda Hill and Octavia Hill , the latter of whom jointly founded the National Trust . Lewes met writer Mary Ann Evans, later to be famous as George Eliot , in 1851, and by 1854 they had decided to live together. As a result, the couple lived with scandal for some time and Evans' family spurned them. They lived together as husband and wife, although never married, for 25 years. Lewes died in 1878. In about two years, she had married John Cross and after seven months of marriage she died suddenly in December 1880. She
3528-713: The wide-ranging activity of the German poet. The work became well known in Germany itself, despite the boldness of its criticism and the unpopularity of some of its views (e.g. on the relation of the second to the first part of Faust ). From about 1853, Lewes's writings show that he was occupying himself with scientific and more particularly biological work. He always showed a distinctly scientific bent in his writings, though he had not had technical training. More than popular expositions of accepted scientific truths, they contain able criticisms of conventionally accepted ideas and embody
3591-402: Was also the founder of experimental physiology. And for the next 1,400 years, Galenic physiology was a powerful and influential tool in medicine . Jean Fernel (1497–1558), a French physician, introduced the term "physiology". Galen, Ibn al-Nafis , Michael Servetus , Realdo Colombo , Amato Lusitano and William Harvey , are credited as making important discoveries in the circulation of
3654-429: Was an appreciative account of Hegel 's Aesthetics . Under the influence of the positivism of Auguste Comte and John Stuart Mill 's A System of Logic , he abandoned all faith in the possibility of metaphysics , and recorded this abandonment in his History of Philosophy . Yet he did not at any time give unqualified assent to Comte's teachings, and with wider reading and reflection his mind moved further away from
3717-505: Was buried next to Lewes at Highgate Cemetery . From 1840 to 1850, Lewes supported himself by contributing to quarterly and other reviews, articles discussing a wide range of subjects, often imperfect but revealing acute critical judgment enlightened by philosophic study. The most valuable are those on drama, afterwards republished under the title Actors and Acting (1875), and The Spanish Drama (1846). In 1845–46, Lewes published The Biographical History of Philosophy , an attempt to depict
3780-482: Was considered complicit in adultery and was not able to divorce Agnes. Lewes left his wife in 1854 to live with Mary Ann Evans. Of his sons only one, Charles (1843–1891), survived him. He was elected as the first London County Councillor (1888) for St Pancras. He was also much interested in the Hampstead Heath extension. Charles married Gertrude Hill, granddaughter of Thomas Southwood Smith and sister of
3843-553: Was dedicated to St. James by the Right Reverend Charles James Blomfield , Lord Bishop of London . 15 acres (6.1 ha) were consecrated for the use of the Church of England , and two acres were set aside for dissenters . Rights of burial were sold either for a limited period or in perpetuity. The first burial was Elizabeth Jackson of Little Windmill Street, Soho , on 26 May. Highgate, like
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#17327826513073906-955: Was founded in 1887 and included only men in its ranks. In 1902, the American Physiological Society elected Ida Hyde as the first female member of the society. Hyde, a representative of the American Association of University Women and a global advocate for gender equality in education, attempted to promote gender equality in every aspect of science and medicine. Soon thereafter, in 1913, J.S. Haldane proposed that women be allowed to formally join The Physiological Society , which had been founded in 1876. On 3 July 1915, six women were officially admitted: Florence Buchanan , Winifred Cullis , Ruth Skelton , Sarah C. M. Sowton , Constance Leetham Terry , and Enid M. Tribe . The centenary of
3969-410: Was provided by animal experimentation . Due to the frequent connection between form and function, physiology and anatomy are intrinsically linked and are studied in tandem as part of a medical curriculum. Involving evolutionary physiology and environmental physiology , comparative physiology considers the diversity of functional characteristics across organisms. The study of human physiology as
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