Apologia-Advanced-Biology-Sample.html

Home > Back to Apologia Science & History

Apologia Advanced Biology Sample

The Human Body: Fearfully & Wonderfully Made

Module #1: An Organizational Overview and Some Review

Introduction
Are you ready to be astounded? You had better get ready! In this course, you are going to learn about the human body. As you learn more and more about the structures in the body and how they work, you will become more and more amazed at the mighty power of God! The human body is the Lord's ultimate design achievement. Indeed, the organic machine which we call the human body makes all of humanity's technological wonders simply pale in comparison.
The human body is the most incredible chemical manufacturing plant in the world! It makes a wider variety of chemicals than the sum total of all chemists in the world, and it does this job more efficiently than human science can ever hope to! It converts fuel to energy more efficiently than the best engine that human science can design, and it processes information hundreds of thousands of times faster than the best computer in the world! Clearly, the human body is the most elegantly-designed "machine" imaginable!
Of course, in order to appreciate the depth of design that we see in the body, you need to be familiar with a lot of science already. That is why we require that you have taken at least a year of biology and a year of chemistry before you take this course. There are some things from those subjects that we will just assume you know. Also, there are several terms that you need to know in order to learn about the human body. That's where we'll start.

Some Terminology
What is anatomy and physiology? First, anatomy underlies physiology. You have to understand the structure of the body (anatomy) before you can understand the way that it functions (physiology). We can separate structural anatomy into gross anatomy and microscopic anatomy. Gross anatomy doesn't mean disgusting anatomy - it means macroscopic anatomy, the parts of the body which we can see with the unaided eye. Microscopic anatomy, on the other hand, refers to the anatomy that we cannot see without the aid of a microscope.
Gross anatomy - The study of the macroscopic structures of an organism
Microscopic anatomy - The study of the microscopic structures of an organism
We will be working mainly with gross anatomy, which can be divided into human anatomy and comparative anatomy. Human anatomy is wonderful. It allows us to see how well-designed our bodies are. Human anatomy is an incredible testimony to the awesome power of God!

Comparative anatomy is also a very interesting topic. For example, the bones of mammals and some animals are homologous (huh mol' uh gus), which means that they are similar. Humans have two bones called the radius and the ulna in their forearms. Horses have a radius and ulna as well. The bone that forms a bird's wing has a radius and ulna, too. Thus, we could say that a bird flies with its arms. The bones that make a bat's wing, however, do not resemble the radius or ulna. Instead, they are similar to human finger bones. Thus, we can say that the bat flies with its fingers. Comparative anatomy is truly a fascinating study.
There are some other anatomy terms you need to learn as well. Surface anatomy, for example, is anatomy by Braille. It is used for diagnosis. When a physician feels your skin to determine whether your glands are swollen or if there are any suspicious lumps or bumps on your body, the physician is using surface anatomy. Regional anatomy means anatomy of various parts of the body. Someone specializing in hand surgery, for example, needs to know the precise location of everything in a hand. That way, when the specialist cuts into the hand for surgery, he or she knows what blood vessels are there, what nerves are there, what muscles are there, etc. This will insure that the specialist knows just where to cut and where not to cut!

In this course, we will concentrate on systemic anatomy. Systemic anatomy means anatomy by organ systems. We will define organs shortly, so don't worry about the precise definition. For right now, we will just give you an example. The digestive system (mouth, teeth, tongue, esophagus, stomach, small and large intestine, and so forth) is an organ system. The organs all cooperate to provide a common function - digesting food. Systemic anatomy is important to us because we also want to study physiology, which is a study of the functions of an organism.
Physiology - The study of the functions of an organism and its parts
Microscopic anatomy is also an incredibly fascinating field of study. You will get a glimpse of this interesting field in some of the laboratory exercises you will perform. The microscopic anatomy that you will study in this course will concentrate on histology, which is the study of tissues.

Histology - The study of tissues
Tissues are the building materials of the body. We will define them more precisely in a little bit. For right now, think about tissues this way. Look around the room you are in. If there is a rug or carpet in the room, you can see that it is made of synthetic material. If you look at the door, you can see that it is made of wood, and that there is metal on the door handle and so forth. Just as easily, if you look under a microscope for any length of time, you can see what the body is made of - tissues.

Organization of the Human Body
Now that we have some basic terms defined, let's look at the organization of the body as a whole. The first thing you need to know is that the human body is organized on several different levels. For example, when you look at the muscles of the human body, you see organization in the way that the muscles are arranged. However, if you look at muscle tissue under a microscope, you will find a completely different kind of organization. Thus, the human body's organization has several levels to it, and we must address each level.
Okay, let's start at the top and say, "Who are we?" We are the whole thing, the organism. In this course, then, we are talking about the whole person. When we look at the human body on that level, what do we see? First, we can divide the body into its organ systems. The organ systems are organs which cooperate to perform a common function. For example, consider the respiratory system. This system contains the nose, the trachea (airway), the lungs, and several other components. These organs all cooperate to perform a function. They get oxygen into your bloodstream and also remove carbon dioxide from it. There are 11 such organ systems, as illustrated in Figure 1.1. (Figure shown in book.)