Animal and Vegetable Physiology
Considered with Reference to Natural Theology

An early and controversial study of how the mechanics of plant and animal development sheds light on God's creation.

Peter Mark Roget (Author)

9781108000062, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 20 July 2009

636 pages
22.9 x 15.2 x 4 cm, 1.1 kg

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.

Introduction
Part I. The Mechanical Functions: 1. Organic mechanism
2. The mechanical functions in zoophytes
3. Mollusca
4. Articulata
5. Insects
6. Vertebrata
7. Fishes
8. Reptilia
9. Mammalia
10. Vertebrata capable of flying.

Subject Areas: History of ideas [JFCX]