Physiology and Hygiene for Secondary Schools | Page 5

An illustration of this is seen in the digestion of the
food--a process which requires the combined action of the mouth,
stomach, liver, intestines, and other organs. A number of organs
working together for the same purpose form a system. The chief
systems of the body are the digestive system, the circulatory system,
the respiratory system, the muscular system, and the nervous system.
*The Organ and its Work.*--A most interesting question relating to the
work of the organ is this: Does the organ work for its own benefit or for
the benefit of the body as a whole? Does the hand, for example, grasp
for itself or in order that the entire body may come into possession?
Only slight study is sufficient to reveal the fact that each organ
performs a work which benefits the body as a whole. In other words,
just as the organ itself is a part of the body, the work which it does is a
part of the necessary work which the body has to do.
But in working for the general good, or for the body as a whole, each
organ becomes a sharer in the benefits of the work done by every other
organ. While the hand receives only a little of the nourishment
contained in the food which it places in the mouth or of the heat from,
fuel which it places on the fire, it is aided and supported by the work of
all the other organs of the body--eyes, feet, brain, heart, etc. The hand
does not and cannot work independently of the other organs. It is one of
the partners in a very close combination where, by doing a particular
work, it, shares in the profits of all. What is true of the hand is true of
every other organ of the body.
*An Organization.*--The relations which the different organs sustain to
each other and to the body as a whole suggest the possibility of
classifying the body as an organization. This term is broadly applied to
a variety of combinations. An organization is properly defined as any
group of individuals which, in working together for a common purpose,
practices the division of labor. This definition will be better understood
by considering a few familiar examples.

A baseball team is an organization. The team is made up of individual
players. These work together for the common purpose of winning
games. They practice the division of labor in that the different players
do different things--one catching, another pitching, and so on. A
manufacturing establishment which employs several workmen may
also be an organization. The article manufactured provides the common
purpose toward which all strive; and, in the assignment of different
kinds of work to the individual workmen, the principle of division of
labor is carried out. For the same reason a school, a railway system, an
army, and a political party are organizations.
An organization of a lower order of individuals than these human
organizations is to be found in a hive of bees. This is made up of the
individual bees, and these, in carrying on the general work of the hive,
are known to practice the division of labor.
*Is the Body an Organization*?--If the body is an organization, it must
fulfill the conditions of the definition. It must be made up of separate or
individual parts. These must work together for the same general
purpose, and, in the accomplishment of this purpose, must practice the
division of labor. That the body practices the division of labor is seen in
the related work of the different organs. That it is made up of minute,
but individual, parts will be shown in the chapter following. That it
carries on a general work which is accomplished through the combined
action of its individual parts is revealed through an extended study of
its various activities. The body is an organization. Moreover, it is one
of the most complex and, at the same time, most perfect of the
organizations of which we have knowledge.
*Summary.*--Viewed from the outside, the body is seen to be made up
of divisions which are more or less familiar. Viewed internally, it is
found to consist of different kinds of materials, called tissues. The
tissues are adapted, by their properties, to different purposes both in the
construction of the body and in carrying on its work. The working parts
of the body are called organs and these in their work combine to form
systems. The entire body, on account of the method of its construction
and the character of its work, may be classed as an organization.

*Exercises.*--1. Name and locate the chief external divisions of the
body.
2. What tissues may be found by dissecting the leg of a chicken?
3. Name the most important properties and the