Description

Preface

Anne Waugh, Allison Grant, Edinburgh, 2009

Ross and Wilson has been a core text for students of anatomy and physiology for over 40 years.
This latest edition is aimed at healthcare professionals including nurses, students of nursing, the
allied health professions and complementary therapies, paramedics and ambulance technicians,
many of whom have found previous editions invaluable. It retains the straightforward approach to
the description of body systems and how they work, and the normal anatomy and physiology is
followed by a section that covers common disorders and diseases: pathology.
The human body is described system by system. The reader must, however, remember that
physiology is an integrated subject and that, although the systems are considered in separate
chapters, they must all function cooperatively to maintain health. The first three chapters provide an
overview of the body and describe its main structures.
The later chapters are organised into three further sections, reflecting those areas essential for
normal body function: communication; intake of raw materials and elimination of waste; and
protection and survival. Much of the material for this edition has been revised and rewritten. Many
of the diagrams have been revised and over 50 new coloured electron micrographs and photographs
included to provide detailed and enlightening views of many anatomical features.
This edition is accompanied by a companion website (www.rossandwilson.com) with over
100 animations and an extensive range of new online self-test activities that reflect the content of
each chapter. The material in this textbook is also supported by a new edition of the accompanying
study guide, which provides students who prefer paper-based activities the opportunity to test their
learning and improve their revision skills.
Most features from the previous edition have been retained and revised, including learning
outcomes, a list of common prefixes, suffixes and roots, and extensive in-text cross-references. A
new and comprehensive glossary has been prepared for this edition. Some biological values,
extracted from the text, are presented as an appendix for easy reference. In some cases, slight
variations in ‘normals’ may be found in other texts and used by different medical practitioners.