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Unacknowledged contributions of Pavlov and Barcroft to Cannon's theory of homeostasis

Gerard P GP Smith

Appetite 51(3):5 (2008) PMID 18675307

Cannon's theory of homeostasis is the first, major, American contribution to physiological thought. Although it is clear that Cannon's account of homeostasis is personal and based primarily on the work of his laboratory, Cannon made it easy for readers to mistake his 1929 paper and 1932 book for a comprehensive review of the literature relevant to homeostasis. This is unfortunate because Cannon never acknowledged the important contributions of two of his contemporaries, Ivan Pavlov and Joseph Barcroft. Since he did not mention them, their contributions are rarely discussed. This paper attempts to correct this historical problem in two ways. First, I describe the unacknowledged contributions of Pavlov and Barcroft. Then I consider the possible reasons why Cannon ignored them.

Copyright © 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

DOI: 10.1016/j.appet.2008.07.003
Version: za2963e q8zab q8zb8 q8zc0 q8zd1 q8ze8 q8zfe q8zg6

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