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Under the terms of the will of the Oxford scholar Francis Henry,
Earl of Bridgewater (1756-1829), a series of works was
commissioned, designed to contribute to an understanding of the
world as created by God. In 1834 Peter Roget, who was at the time
compiling his celebrated Thesaurus, contributed two volumes to that
controversial series, of which this is the first. He described in a
manner designed to appeal to a wide audience the variety and
complexity of the mechanical processes of the plant and animal
kingdoms. Particular attention is given to those areas where animal
life reveals something about human life and the man-made world,
emphasising the magnificence of the all-encompassing creative
process behind it. The plant kingdom is examined with the goal of
establishing the mechanics behind the beauty of plant life as
created by God.
In this second volume of his 1834 treatise on how God's creative
process is manifest in the plant and animal kingdoms, Peter Roget,
compiler of the celebrated Thesaurus, examines their physiologies.
He covers aspects including nutrition and respiration, the sensory
and nervous systems, the function of the brain and the reproductive
process. Functions of individual plants and animals are seen as
proving God's design by giving organisms the means of coexisting.
The organic development process and change from the first cell
beginnings to decay and death is studied closely with the aim of
understanding how 'material particles first became animated with
the breath of life' and why there is a time limit to their
existence. The treatise concludes that God's intention pervades
both kingdoms and is revealed in similarity of processes and the
universal connectivity of the 'laws of analogy' that link all
living things to common roots.
Peter Mark Roget (1779-1869), of Huguenot stock, trained as a
physician in Edinburgh and London, yet he was increasingly drawn to
the sciences, corresponding with Erasmus Darwin, Thomas Beddoes and
Humphry Davy. He practised medicine (free of charge) in London at
the Northern Dispensary, which he co-founded, and lectured on
physiology and medical topics. His Bridgewater Treatise, on animal
and vegetable physiology, is also reissued in the Cambridge Library
Collection. Roget is remembered today for the present work, first
published in 1852 following his retirement from professional
duties. As the preface makes clear, he had contemplated such a work
for nearly fifty years. It supplies a vocabulary of English words
and idiomatic phrases 'arranged ... according to the ideas which
they express'. The thesaurus, continually expanded and updated, has
always remained in print, but this reissued first edition shows the
impressive breadth of Roget's own knowledge and interests.
This scarce antiquarian book is a selection from Kessinger
Publishing's Legacy Reprint Series. Due to its age, it may contain
imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed
pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we
have made it available as part of our commitment to protecting,
preserving, and promoting the world's literature. Kessinger
Publishing is the place to find hundreds of thousands of rare and
hard-to-find books with something of interest for everyone!
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