Animal and Vegetable Physiology Considered with Reference to Natural Theology [Paperback]

An early and controversial study of how the mechanics of plant and animal development sheds light on God's creation.The Bridgewater Treatises, published in the 1830s, aimed to reconcile the natural world with Gods creation. In this, the first of two volumes he contributed, Peter Roget explores the mechanics of the animal and vegetable systems in order to contribute to understanding the hand of the divine in their development.The Bridgewater Treatises, published in the 1830s, aimed to reconcile the natural world with Gods creation. In this, the first of two volumes he contributed, Peter Roget explores the mechanics of the animal and vegetable systems in order to contribute to understanding the hand of the divine in their development.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.