ABSTRACT
Our bodies function in manifold ways whose purpose and manner at first elude our grasp or even escape our notice: we breathe, our chest thuds, we need air and drink and food and sex, and excrete substances with peculiar powers. Excursions from these norms excite our wonder (and a desire to restore our balance): blood flows from wounds, diseases weaken or kill us, and some foodstuffs transform our body for a time, or are even fatal. Every human culture consumes certain foods not for thirst or hunger but to achieve certain effects, especially the relief of pain or the alleviation of malfunction. The unseen origins of diseases are countered in attempts to restore balance (cooling fevers, warming chills, evacuating foreign or improper material, etc.). Displaced or broken bones can be returned to their place, and wounds can be closed so as to speed healing; many cultures successfully practiced trepanation (the removal of sections of the skull when damaged or to relieve perceived pressure).
