Animal and Vegetable Physiology
Considered with Reference to Natural Theology

Volume two of this pre-Darwin treatise considers the physiology of plants and animals, and God's role in their development.

Peter Mark Roget (Author)

9781108000079, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 20 July 2009

676 pages
22.9 x 15.2 x 0.4 cm, 1.16 kg

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.

Part II. The Vital Functions: 1. Objects of nutrition
2. Nutrition in vegetables
3. Animal nutrition in general
4. Nutrition in the lower orders of animals
5. Nutrition in the higher orders of animals
6. Preparation of food
7. Digestion
8. Chylification
9. Lacteal absorption
10. Circulation
11. Respiration
12. Secretion
13. Absorption
14. Nervous power
Part III. The sensorial functions: 1. Sensation
2. Touch
3. Taste
4. Smell
5. Hearing
6. Vision
7. Perception
8. Comparative physiology of the nervous system
Part IV. The Reproductive Functions: 1. Reproduction
2. Organic development
3. Decline of the system
4. Unity of design
Index.

Subject Areas: History of ideas [JFCX]