Introduction:
Although frequently compared with a machine, the human body is infinitely more complex, more refined and more efficient than any other machine that has ever been created, or is ever likely to be created. The human body is a superb, almost perfect, arrangement of thousands of millions of cells into a light, flexible and remarkably B framework, and several beautifully engineered organs. These organs form part of the unified and interrelated systems that perform, usually with remarkable reliability, specific tasks for the day, such as digestion, reproduction and blood circulation.
Guiding and controlling the body’s functions is the brain – an organ that, in its design and versatility, is probably unique. The brain is the source of all life processes. This remarkable organ is not only the control centre of the body but also the centre for all the thought, emotion, reasoning and memory. The prodigious achievements in medical science during the last hundred years mean that we now know more about the human body and how it functions than ever before. But our knowledge of the brain is still fairly limited. Although the physical structure and make-up of the physical structure and make-up of the brain have been identified, and particular areas of it associated with various bodily functions, exactly how the brain controls the body is still only partly understood.
Today it is generally thought that the brain operates rather like the control centre of a computer, processing information that it receives from the senses. The information is stored, constantly added to, and used as the basis on which control impulses are sent from the brain through the nervous system to the various parts of the body. This analogy goes a long way towards explaining the mechanics of the brain, but it does not explain how it achieves the intricate thought processes that accompany the impulses. Nor does the analogy with a computer explain the complex interrelationship between mind and body that produces what we think of as “the person”.
Evolution of man:
Man has long been fascinated by his origins, and the human body begins by tracing the evolution of man from primitive ape-like ancestors to modern intelligent man, Homo sapiens. Four spreads are devoted to reviewing the extent of man’s research into the genealogy and development of his species. A further two spreads examine man’s world-wide migration.
Illness and Health
Although the body is armed with a remarkable number of natural defenses, it can still fall prey to a wide range of disorders. Paradoxically, it is the discrepancy between man’s physical and social evolutions that have led to some of the major health hazards. Physically man has changed little during the last few thousand years, but the environment in which most of us live has changed beyond all recognition. The traditional killers, such as cholera and diphtheria, have been banished from industrial societies, only to be replaced by new problems largely related to complex and stressful environments and life-styles. Two of the major causes of death today are heart disease and cancer, both of which were comparatively rare 50 years ago. With these new physical problems have emerged a wide range of mental and emotional disorders, many of which are related to stress.
Today it is increasingly recognized that these problems can be solved to a great extent. But the accent, in the industrial societies at least, is on self-help.
Mental Health
Our health and well being depends largely on how well we understand our bodies. Whereas most people appreciate their outwards appearance, very few take the time or trouble to understand their inner structure or functions; the human body is perhaps the most neglected and most taken for granted of all our possessions.
The human body deals with the physiological and psychological make-up of the human animal. It is an extremely important subject; knowledge about it cannot but contribute to our well-being both, as individuals and as a species.
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