The concept of the regulation of the internal environment was described by French physiologist Claude Bernard in 1865, and the word homeostasis was coined by Walter Bradford Cannon in 1926.[5][6] In 1932, Joseph Barcroft a British physiologist, was the first to say that higher brain function required the most stable internal environment. Thus, to Barcroft homeostasis was not only organized by the brain—homeostasis served the brain.[7] Homeostasis is an almost exclusively biological term, referring to the concepts described by Bernard and Cannon, concerning the constancy of the internal environment in which the cells of the body live and survive.[5][6][8] The term cybernetics is applied to technological control systems such as thermostats, which function as homeostatic mechanisms, but is often defined much more broadly than the biological term of homeostasis.[4][9][10][11]
Source: Homeostasis – Wikipedia
Cannon https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Bradford_Cannon
Bernard https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claude_Bernard
Barcroft https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Barcroft
(Extracts from) self-regulation of the body (Cannon, 1939) http://www.cybsoc.org/cannon.pdf
Walter Cannon and Self-Regulation in Animals (Hagen) http://shipseducation.net/db/cannon.pdf
Good core references: https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/agricultural-and-biological-sciences/homeostasis
https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Human_Physiology/Homeostasis
Some alternative points:
Claude Bernard, The “Milieu Intérieur”, and Regulatory Physiology
Abstract
Research review
From Claude Bernard to Walter Cannon. Emergence of the concept of homeostasis
Steven J. Cooper
Roots of current conceptions of the regulation of states of the body through negative feedback mechanisms are traced back to Bernard’s ideas on active stabilisation of bodily states against disturbances from the outside, revived by Henderson and Haldane, and crystallised in Cannon’s concept of homeostasis.
2008
Click to access cooper2008.pdf
A. Querido and J. van Gijn
‘The Wisdom of the Body’: the Usefulness of Systems Thinking for Medicine
Abstract
An attempt is made to evaluate the application of system thinking to medical
problems. Two examples clarify the difference between the atomistic
approach and considering the organism as a whoIe. After elucidation of the
roots of system thinking – especially in connection with natural systems –
some consequences of the integrative approach for both the theory and the
practice of medicine are discussed, as weIl as its significance for medical
education.
Click to access PU00011604.pdf
Reference in cybernetics: a new management tool (Clemson, 1984)
https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=VqQpICD5IXgC&pg=PA215&lpg=PA215&dq=Canon:+%27A+system+survives+only+so+long+as+all+essential+variables+are+maintained+within+their+physiological+limits.
Adaptive Homeostasis
Homeostasis is a central pillar of modern Physiology. The term homeostasis was invented by Walter Bradford Cannon in an attempt to extend and codify the principle of ‘milieu intérieur,’ or a constant interior bodily environment, that had previously been postulated by Claude Bernard. Clearly, ‘milieu intérieur’ and homeostasis have served us well for over a century. Nevertheless, research on signal transduction systems that regulate gene expression, or that cause biochemical alterations to existing enzymes, in response to external and internal stimuli makes it clear that biological systems are continuously making short-term adaptations both to set-points, and to the range of ‘normal’ capacity. These transient adaptations typically occur in response to relatively mild changes in conditions, to programs of exercise training, or to sub-toxic, non-damaging levels of chemical agents; thus the terms hormesis, heterostasis, and allostasis are not accurate descriptors. Therefore, an operational adjustment to our understanding of homeostasis suggests that the modified term, Adaptive Homeostasis may be useful especially in studies of stress, toxicology, disease, and aging. Adaptive Homeostasis may be defined as follows: ‘The transient expansion or contraction of the homeostatic range in response to exposure to sub-toxic, non-damaging, signaling molecules or events, or the removal or cessation of such molecules or events.”
A physiologist’s view of homeostasis
1 Abstract
Homeostasis is a core concept necessary for understanding the many regulatory mechanisms in physiology. Claude Bernard originally proposed the concept of the constancy of the “milieu interieur,” but his discussion was rather abstract. Walter Cannon introduced the term “homeostasis” and expanded Bernard’s notion of “constancy” of the internal environment in an explicit and concrete way. In the 1960s, homeostatic regulatory mechanisms in physiology began to be described as discrete processes following the application of engineering control system analysis to physiological systems. Unfortunately, many undergraduate texts continue to highlight abstract aspects of the concept rather than emphasizing a general model that can be specifically and comprehensively applied to all homeostatic mechanisms. As a result, students and instructors alike often fail to develop a clear, concise model with which to think about such systems. In this article, we present a standard model for homeostatic mechanisms to be used at the undergraduate level. We discuss common sources of confusion (“sticky points”) that arise from inconsistencies in vocabulary and illustrations found in popular undergraduate texts. Finally, we propose a simplified model and vocabulary set for helping undergraduate students build effective mental models of homeostatic regulation in physiological systems.
in 2007, a group of 21 biologists from a wide range of disciplines agreed that “homeostasis” was one of eight core concepts in biology (14). Two years later, the American Association of Medical Colleges and Howard Hughes Medical Institute in its report (1) on the scientific foundations for future physicians similarly identified the ability to apply knowledge about “homeostasis” as one of the core competencies (competency M1).
From our perspective as physiologists, it is clear that homeostasis is a core concept of our discipline. When we asked physiology instructors from a broad range of educational institutions what they thought the “big ideas” (concepts) of physiology were, we found that they too identified “homeostasis” and “cell membranes” as the two most important big ideas in physiology (15). In a subsequent survey (16), physiology instructors ranked homeostasis as one of the core concepts critical to understanding physiology.
If, as these surveys indicate, the concept of homeostasis is central to understanding physiological mechanisms, one would expect that instructors and textbooks would present a consistent model of the concept. However, an examination of 11 commonly used undergraduate physiology and biology textbooks revealed that this is not necessarily the case (17).
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4669363/
Systems Community of Inquiry 