1 00:00:02,360 --> 00:00:06,520 Speaker 1: Peter Mark Roget was born on January eighteenth, seventeen seventy nine, 2 00:00:06,600 --> 00:00:09,440 Speaker 1: or two hundred and forty six years ago today, so 3 00:00:09,560 --> 00:00:13,520 Speaker 1: our episode on him and his thesaurus is today's Saturday Classic. 4 00:00:14,000 --> 00:00:16,799 Speaker 1: We mention a couple of subjects in this episode that 5 00:00:16,840 --> 00:00:20,760 Speaker 1: we've covered since then. Our episode on Francis Henry Edgerton, 6 00:00:20,920 --> 00:00:23,919 Speaker 1: a thirle of Bridgewater, which I specifically said would be 7 00:00:23,920 --> 00:00:27,680 Speaker 1: covered later, came out on February twenty first, twenty twenty two. 8 00:00:28,200 --> 00:00:31,600 Speaker 1: And our two parter that covered Humphrey davies self experimentation 9 00:00:31,720 --> 00:00:34,720 Speaker 1: with nitrous oxide was a two parter that started on 10 00:00:34,760 --> 00:00:38,720 Speaker 1: April twenty ninth, twenty twenty four. This originally came out 11 00:00:38,880 --> 00:00:45,519 Speaker 1: February second, twenty twenty two. Enjoy Welcome to Stuff You 12 00:00:45,560 --> 00:00:55,640 Speaker 1: Missed in History Class, a production of iHeartRadio. Hello, and 13 00:00:55,680 --> 00:00:59,440 Speaker 1: Welcome to the podcast. I'm Holly Frye and I'm Tracy V. Wilson. 14 00:01:00,320 --> 00:01:02,520 Speaker 1: So I think it's a safe bet that if you've 15 00:01:02,560 --> 00:01:06,080 Speaker 1: done any amount of writing, you have probably stumbled across 16 00:01:06,600 --> 00:01:12,040 Speaker 1: Rose's thesaurus. Yeah, that's I think one of my earliest 17 00:01:12,080 --> 00:01:17,560 Speaker 1: experiences of like, here are resources in the library. Yes, uh, 18 00:01:17,600 --> 00:01:21,240 Speaker 1: and Rose was a person, Peter Mark Roge. He was 19 00:01:21,360 --> 00:01:24,520 Speaker 1: a doctor and a scientist who really liked putting things 20 00:01:24,560 --> 00:01:28,600 Speaker 1: into classification systems. But his life was quite dramatic, well 21 00:01:28,600 --> 00:01:31,920 Speaker 1: before he put together the book that is his legacy, 22 00:01:32,040 --> 00:01:34,600 Speaker 1: and today we are going to talk all about that. 23 00:01:35,600 --> 00:01:37,120 Speaker 1: We want to give you a heads up that this 24 00:01:37,240 --> 00:01:42,199 Speaker 1: episode contains discussion of suicide and some detailed discussion because 25 00:01:42,240 --> 00:01:44,399 Speaker 1: of an event that shaped Roget's life. So if you 26 00:01:44,400 --> 00:01:47,240 Speaker 1: would like to skip that, jump ahead about two to 27 00:01:47,280 --> 00:01:49,880 Speaker 1: three minutes to the first ad break, starting when we 28 00:01:50,040 --> 00:01:54,040 Speaker 1: mentioned the year eighteen eighteen. Peter Mark Roge was born 29 00:01:54,200 --> 00:01:58,280 Speaker 1: on January eighteenth, seventeen seventy nine, in London. His father, 30 00:01:58,600 --> 00:02:02,760 Speaker 1: Jean Roget, was Genevieve's pastor who had moved to England 31 00:02:02,880 --> 00:02:06,080 Speaker 1: as an adult. He died when Peter was just four 32 00:02:06,160 --> 00:02:10,360 Speaker 1: years old. His mother was Catherine Romilly, and her brother, 33 00:02:10,680 --> 00:02:15,320 Speaker 1: the abolitionist, legal reformer and politician, Sir Samuel Romilly, became 34 00:02:15,400 --> 00:02:18,520 Speaker 1: a significant figure in Peter's life. After his father died, 35 00:02:19,240 --> 00:02:24,320 Speaker 1: Peter referred to his uncle as his surrogate father. Peter's mother, Catherine, 36 00:02:24,400 --> 00:02:27,680 Speaker 1: has been characterized by a biographers as domineering. She was 37 00:02:27,800 --> 00:02:31,480 Speaker 1: very involved in her son's life. She likely had depression 38 00:02:31,560 --> 00:02:35,640 Speaker 1: and sometimes she exhibited paranoia, and she really really pushed 39 00:02:35,800 --> 00:02:39,079 Speaker 1: her son to be an achiever. When Peter was just fourteen, 40 00:02:39,200 --> 00:02:42,519 Speaker 1: his mother moved the entire family, including his sister Annette, 41 00:02:42,520 --> 00:02:46,160 Speaker 1: who likely also had depression, to Edinburgh, Scotland, so that 42 00:02:46,200 --> 00:02:49,760 Speaker 1: Peter could study medicine at the University of Edinburgh. He 43 00:02:49,840 --> 00:02:52,800 Speaker 1: did not only take classes intended to prepare him for 44 00:02:52,880 --> 00:02:56,040 Speaker 1: a career as a doctor, though he also loved and 45 00:02:56,120 --> 00:03:00,360 Speaker 1: studied literature and philosophy. In seventeen ninety eight, the age 46 00:03:00,360 --> 00:03:04,960 Speaker 1: of nineteen, Roge graduated from medical school. Even in this 47 00:03:05,080 --> 00:03:08,280 Speaker 1: early stage of his life, he had this proclivity to 48 00:03:08,320 --> 00:03:12,280 Speaker 1: study the classification and organization of things that was really apparent. 49 00:03:12,919 --> 00:03:17,160 Speaker 1: His medical school thesis, which was about chemical affinities, invoked 50 00:03:17,240 --> 00:03:20,880 Speaker 1: the work of Carl Naeus and his classification system, as 51 00:03:20,960 --> 00:03:23,000 Speaker 1: well as others who had used it in their work. 52 00:03:23,560 --> 00:03:27,480 Speaker 1: One of Roge's first projects out of school was, unsurprisingly, 53 00:03:28,120 --> 00:03:32,320 Speaker 1: a system of classification. This was very, very broad in scope. 54 00:03:32,360 --> 00:03:36,240 Speaker 1: He wanted to sort all knowledge into three categories. The 55 00:03:36,320 --> 00:03:39,680 Speaker 1: first was the material world, which focused on natural history. 56 00:03:40,120 --> 00:03:43,280 Speaker 1: The second was the intellectual World, which included all manner 57 00:03:43,280 --> 00:03:47,240 Speaker 1: of philosophies, theories and belief systems. And the third was 58 00:03:47,280 --> 00:03:50,440 Speaker 1: the World of Signs, which was really about words and communication, 59 00:03:51,120 --> 00:03:54,880 Speaker 1: and he collaborated on this work with a philosopher, Dougald Stewart, 60 00:03:55,280 --> 00:03:58,920 Speaker 1: but it was never published. In seventeen ninety nine, rog 61 00:03:59,200 --> 00:04:01,720 Speaker 1: was published for the first time in the Journal of 62 00:04:01,920 --> 00:04:06,480 Speaker 1: Thomas Beddows. This is a series of notes regarding consumption 63 00:04:06,680 --> 00:04:11,160 Speaker 1: as it related to various professions. Roget also joined Beto's 64 00:04:11,240 --> 00:04:15,720 Speaker 1: research facility, the Pneumatic Medical Institution that was in Bristol, England. 65 00:04:16,200 --> 00:04:20,800 Speaker 1: In Bedows's group, Roge worked alongside Humphrey Davy experimenting with 66 00:04:20,920 --> 00:04:25,120 Speaker 1: gases and their possible medical uses. One of the things 67 00:04:25,120 --> 00:04:28,520 Speaker 1: that they worked on were possible pain management or sedative 68 00:04:28,600 --> 00:04:32,480 Speaker 1: uses for gases like nitrous oxide. They actually published a 69 00:04:32,520 --> 00:04:35,040 Speaker 1: paper about it in eighteen hundred that was more than 70 00:04:35,080 --> 00:04:38,040 Speaker 1: forty years before such things were ever used in dental 71 00:04:38,040 --> 00:04:42,120 Speaker 1: work or surgery, and in some cases the researchers were 72 00:04:42,160 --> 00:04:46,680 Speaker 1: also experiment subjects. Roge wrote about his own experience with 73 00:04:46,800 --> 00:04:51,000 Speaker 1: nitrous oxide, which for him was quite disorienting. Quote, I 74 00:04:51,080 --> 00:04:53,520 Speaker 1: seemed to lose the sense of my own weight and 75 00:04:53,600 --> 00:04:57,080 Speaker 1: imagined I was sinking into the ground. I then felt 76 00:04:57,080 --> 00:05:00,120 Speaker 1: a drowsiness gradually steal over me, and a day this 77 00:05:00,160 --> 00:05:04,440 Speaker 1: inclination to motion, I was gradually roused from this torpor 78 00:05:04,520 --> 00:05:08,560 Speaker 1: by a kind of delirium. I felt myself totally incapable 79 00:05:08,600 --> 00:05:12,000 Speaker 1: of speaking, and for some time lost all consciousness of 80 00:05:12,040 --> 00:05:15,719 Speaker 1: where I was or who was near me. Roget did 81 00:05:15,760 --> 00:05:18,400 Speaker 1: not stay with the Bedos Institute for very long. He 82 00:05:18,520 --> 00:05:21,520 Speaker 1: left Bristol in eighteen hundred and moved east to London. 83 00:05:22,120 --> 00:05:24,680 Speaker 1: There he continued his medical studies by working with a 84 00:05:24,760 --> 00:05:27,720 Speaker 1: number of prominent physicians of the day. What of those 85 00:05:27,839 --> 00:05:31,800 Speaker 1: was Edward Jenner. Yeah. His connections throughout his life kind 86 00:05:31,800 --> 00:05:36,000 Speaker 1: of read like the checklist of important scientists and doctors 87 00:05:36,080 --> 00:05:39,680 Speaker 1: of the period. Peter Roget also made money during this 88 00:05:39,800 --> 00:05:42,919 Speaker 1: time as a private tutor. He was hired to educate 89 00:05:42,960 --> 00:05:46,880 Speaker 1: two boys, Burton and Nathaniel Phillips, and also to travel 90 00:05:46,880 --> 00:05:50,560 Speaker 1: with them on a year long trip around Europe. Roge 91 00:05:50,600 --> 00:05:53,239 Speaker 1: was twenty three when they started their trip, heading first 92 00:05:53,240 --> 00:05:57,440 Speaker 1: to Paris, where things started out quite well. They visited museums, 93 00:05:57,520 --> 00:05:59,799 Speaker 1: they walked the city, and they took in the culture 94 00:06:00,200 --> 00:06:03,640 Speaker 1: and although Roget was not exactly in love with French life. 95 00:06:03,920 --> 00:06:06,800 Speaker 1: He wrote some very disparaging things about the French people. 96 00:06:07,560 --> 00:06:10,719 Speaker 1: He was happy to be making money and traveling, and 97 00:06:10,760 --> 00:06:13,039 Speaker 1: when they moved on to Geneva he found that to 98 00:06:13,080 --> 00:06:17,600 Speaker 1: be quite enjoyable. But then they got trapped there. On 99 00:06:17,680 --> 00:06:21,039 Speaker 1: May eighteenth, eighteen oh three, Britain declared war on France, 100 00:06:21,160 --> 00:06:25,560 Speaker 1: and Napoleon Bonaparte declared that all adult British citizens and 101 00:06:25,640 --> 00:06:29,680 Speaker 1: French territories were prisoners of war. That means Roget was 102 00:06:29,720 --> 00:06:32,080 Speaker 1: part of that group. Much to his shock and surprise. 103 00:06:33,000 --> 00:06:36,560 Speaker 1: His charges, though, were not affected. They were under eighteen, 104 00:06:37,000 --> 00:06:38,839 Speaker 1: and he didn't just want to send them off on 105 00:06:38,880 --> 00:06:42,000 Speaker 1: their own, hoping they would make it home safely. They 106 00:06:42,080 --> 00:06:45,080 Speaker 1: tried to petition the French government for an exemption because 107 00:06:45,080 --> 00:06:48,480 Speaker 1: of their situation, but when that failed, he started reaching 108 00:06:48,520 --> 00:06:51,719 Speaker 1: out to their father's business contacts in Switzerland to try 109 00:06:51,720 --> 00:06:54,680 Speaker 1: to find these boys a safe haven. He moved the 110 00:06:54,720 --> 00:06:58,839 Speaker 1: boys first to Lausanne and then to Nuqtel. Then he 111 00:06:58,920 --> 00:07:03,360 Speaker 1: did something ingenius. So if you'll remember we mentioned at 112 00:07:03,400 --> 00:07:06,120 Speaker 1: the top of this episode that his father, Jean Roget, 113 00:07:06,640 --> 00:07:11,320 Speaker 1: was from Geneva, Peter did an impressive bit of bureaucratic dancing, 114 00:07:11,360 --> 00:07:13,760 Speaker 1: and in less than twenty four hours he managed to 115 00:07:13,840 --> 00:07:17,400 Speaker 1: track down his deceased father's birth certificate and a government 116 00:07:17,440 --> 00:07:21,280 Speaker 1: official to provide certification that Peter was Jean's son and 117 00:07:21,360 --> 00:07:26,360 Speaker 1: thus eligible for Genevieve's citizenship. This whole business had, according 118 00:07:26,360 --> 00:07:30,480 Speaker 1: to Roge, required a bribe. This let him get a 119 00:07:30,520 --> 00:07:34,000 Speaker 1: limited passport to rejoin the Phillips brothers, but then to 120 00:07:34,040 --> 00:07:36,800 Speaker 1: get home they had to sneak through small towns, never 121 00:07:36,840 --> 00:07:40,200 Speaker 1: speaking English in front of anybody, making some more bribes 122 00:07:40,240 --> 00:07:43,920 Speaker 1: along the way. Eventually they got to unoccupied Germany and 123 00:07:43,960 --> 00:07:47,120 Speaker 1: from there they were able to get passage home. Roge 124 00:07:47,200 --> 00:07:50,080 Speaker 1: later wrote of this ordeal quote, it is impossible to 125 00:07:50,120 --> 00:07:53,520 Speaker 1: describe the rapture we felt in treading on friendly ground. 126 00:07:53,760 --> 00:07:56,960 Speaker 1: It was like awaking from a horrid dream, or recovering 127 00:07:56,960 --> 00:08:00,000 Speaker 1: from a nightmare. Back in England, in eighteen o five, 128 00:08:00,560 --> 00:08:03,040 Speaker 1: Roge moved to Manchester and took a job at the 129 00:08:03,040 --> 00:08:06,880 Speaker 1: public Infirmary. In addition to his work as a public 130 00:08:06,920 --> 00:08:10,480 Speaker 1: health physician, he also put together a lecture series there 131 00:08:10,680 --> 00:08:14,840 Speaker 1: several in fact, the first was eighteen lecturers grouped together 132 00:08:14,920 --> 00:08:17,720 Speaker 1: as an offering of the College of Arts and Sciences, 133 00:08:18,040 --> 00:08:21,040 Speaker 1: and in these classes he returned, as ever to his 134 00:08:21,120 --> 00:08:25,600 Speaker 1: love of classification to form the curriculum. Physiology was broken 135 00:08:25,640 --> 00:08:30,720 Speaker 1: down into four units of classification covering the human respiratory, nervous, 136 00:08:30,760 --> 00:08:35,800 Speaker 1: mechanical and reproductive functions. He also taught animal physiology, although 137 00:08:35,840 --> 00:08:39,559 Speaker 1: that was separated out into a different course of fifteen lectures. 138 00:08:40,240 --> 00:08:43,760 Speaker 1: Because of his efforts and assembling those educational courses, he's 139 00:08:43,880 --> 00:08:48,480 Speaker 1: credited with starting Manchester's first medical school, but Manchester didn't 140 00:08:48,559 --> 00:08:51,480 Speaker 1: keep Roge for long either. In eighteen oh eight he 141 00:08:51,559 --> 00:08:54,400 Speaker 1: moved once again to London. He set up a private 142 00:08:54,440 --> 00:08:58,600 Speaker 1: practice but also continued teaching. This time it was at 143 00:08:58,600 --> 00:09:01,920 Speaker 1: the Russell Institution, and he built on the lecture plans 144 00:09:01,920 --> 00:09:05,240 Speaker 1: he had worked on in Manchester. In eighteen oh nine 145 00:09:05,400 --> 00:09:08,560 Speaker 1: he finally gained his Royal College of Physicians license, and 146 00:09:08,600 --> 00:09:11,559 Speaker 1: at that point he joined the Medical and Triururgical Society. 147 00:09:12,040 --> 00:09:15,480 Speaker 1: In eighteen eleven he became the Society's secretary, and in 148 00:09:15,520 --> 00:09:19,679 Speaker 1: that role he headed up to society's periodical transactions. In 149 00:09:19,720 --> 00:09:22,280 Speaker 1: eighteen twelve he published his own paper in it, which 150 00:09:22,360 --> 00:09:26,480 Speaker 1: was about the detection of arsenic in poisoning cases. That 151 00:09:26,559 --> 00:09:30,040 Speaker 1: same year he also became the professor of Comparative anatomy 152 00:09:30,080 --> 00:09:33,960 Speaker 1: at the Royal Institution. Throughout his time as a lecturer there, 153 00:09:34,160 --> 00:09:38,040 Speaker 1: establishing a framework of classification for any subject was always 154 00:09:38,080 --> 00:09:41,600 Speaker 1: imparted in his lectures. One of the major concepts he 155 00:09:41,679 --> 00:09:44,319 Speaker 1: was working on through all of his practice and teaching 156 00:09:44,440 --> 00:09:48,480 Speaker 1: was the idea that the brain itself was subconsciously classifying 157 00:09:48,520 --> 00:09:51,559 Speaker 1: things just as part of a person's perception of the world, 158 00:09:51,840 --> 00:09:54,360 Speaker 1: and he referred to the brain as quote an organ 159 00:09:54,440 --> 00:09:59,640 Speaker 1: of association. He innovated outside of physiology inventing a device 160 00:09:59,760 --> 00:10:02,760 Speaker 1: in a eighteen fourteen that he called a log log scale. 161 00:10:03,480 --> 00:10:06,400 Speaker 1: This it was a spiral slide rule that could add 162 00:10:06,440 --> 00:10:10,240 Speaker 1: the logarithms of logarithms. The paper on this was published 163 00:10:10,280 --> 00:10:13,720 Speaker 1: in eighteen fifteen and it contributed to Roget becoming a 164 00:10:13,760 --> 00:10:17,760 Speaker 1: Fellow of the Royal Society of London. Eighteen fifteen also 165 00:10:17,880 --> 00:10:20,559 Speaker 1: marked the beginning of a new job that was decidedly 166 00:10:20,600 --> 00:10:25,000 Speaker 1: in Peter Rose's lane. He started working with Encyclopedia Britannica, 167 00:10:25,440 --> 00:10:29,040 Speaker 1: and his writing there included biographies of various scientists and 168 00:10:29,080 --> 00:10:32,079 Speaker 1: thinkers of the day, as well as articles about medical 169 00:10:32,160 --> 00:10:35,679 Speaker 1: science itself, and this writing truthfully is a little bit 170 00:10:35,679 --> 00:10:37,480 Speaker 1: of a mixed bag if you look at it now. 171 00:10:37,679 --> 00:10:40,520 Speaker 1: It was all pretty advanced for the early nineteenth century, 172 00:10:40,880 --> 00:10:43,920 Speaker 1: but today, obviously a lot of it is outdated or 173 00:10:44,000 --> 00:10:47,240 Speaker 1: just flat out wrong. He wrote a significant article on 174 00:10:47,280 --> 00:10:50,800 Speaker 1: the kaleidoscope, which expanded available knowledge of optics in the 175 00:10:50,840 --> 00:10:53,840 Speaker 1: workings of the human eye, and he produced a lengthy 176 00:10:53,920 --> 00:10:57,920 Speaker 1: article on physiology, and in that physiology writing he continued 177 00:10:57,960 --> 00:11:00,880 Speaker 1: to espouse his approach to categorize the workings of the 178 00:11:00,960 --> 00:11:04,440 Speaker 1: human body. This was where an area that roget had 179 00:11:04,480 --> 00:11:08,040 Speaker 1: been interested in really came to the forefront. That was 180 00:11:08,080 --> 00:11:12,160 Speaker 1: the nervous system. At this time, knowledge of the nervous 181 00:11:12,160 --> 00:11:15,520 Speaker 1: system and exactly how it functioned were still pretty primitive. 182 00:11:15,600 --> 00:11:19,120 Speaker 1: That was something Roge acknowledged in his writing, But he 183 00:11:19,240 --> 00:11:22,400 Speaker 1: did note, as others before him had, that the nervous 184 00:11:22,400 --> 00:11:25,880 Speaker 1: system quote bears a greater resemblance to the transmission of 185 00:11:25,920 --> 00:11:30,200 Speaker 1: the electric agency along conducting wires than to any other 186 00:11:30,280 --> 00:11:34,079 Speaker 1: fact we are acquainted with in nature. In eighteen eighteen, 187 00:11:34,440 --> 00:11:38,880 Speaker 1: Rogee's family went through a horrible series of tragedies. It 188 00:11:39,000 --> 00:11:41,240 Speaker 1: began with his aunt Anne, that was the wife of 189 00:11:41,280 --> 00:11:45,080 Speaker 1: Sir Samuel Romilly, dying of cancer on October twenty ninth 190 00:11:45,120 --> 00:11:49,160 Speaker 1: of that year. Peter had been her doctor. Samuel had 191 00:11:49,200 --> 00:11:51,360 Speaker 1: been at her bedside for weeks in the end, for 192 00:11:51,480 --> 00:11:55,040 Speaker 1: going sleep and food, and once she died, his own 193 00:11:55,080 --> 00:11:58,320 Speaker 1: physical and mental health quickly declined from the neglect and 194 00:11:58,360 --> 00:12:02,160 Speaker 1: the stress of the situation. On November two, Sir Romilly 195 00:12:02,200 --> 00:12:05,959 Speaker 1: asked his daughter Sophia to go get Peter roget. Peter 196 00:12:06,200 --> 00:12:09,520 Speaker 1: was also his doctor, so this wasn't a surprising request 197 00:12:09,600 --> 00:12:14,720 Speaker 1: for somebody who was obviously ill, But when Rosee arrived, 198 00:12:14,880 --> 00:12:18,480 Speaker 1: it became apparent immediately that this errand had been a ruse. 199 00:12:18,880 --> 00:12:22,400 Speaker 1: Romilly had wanted privacy because he intended to end his life. 200 00:12:23,320 --> 00:12:26,080 Speaker 1: Once Sophia had left, he had cut his own throat, 201 00:12:26,520 --> 00:12:31,640 Speaker 1: and Peter arrived just afterward. Rose tried to treat his uncle, 202 00:12:32,040 --> 00:12:35,520 Speaker 1: but after scribbling down the cryptic words quote my dear 203 00:12:35,840 --> 00:12:39,120 Speaker 1: I wish on a piece of paper, Romily died in 204 00:12:39,160 --> 00:12:44,560 Speaker 1: his arms. After that, Peter's mother, Catherine, also fell into 205 00:12:44,600 --> 00:12:48,200 Speaker 1: her own deep depression. She became very, very paranoid. She 206 00:12:48,320 --> 00:12:51,200 Speaker 1: was certain that the house staff was working toward her demise, 207 00:12:51,720 --> 00:12:55,520 Speaker 1: and she progressively became kind of closed off from everyone. 208 00:12:55,600 --> 00:12:59,679 Speaker 1: She alternated between paranoid episodes in near catatonia for the 209 00:12:59,720 --> 00:13:03,319 Speaker 1: remains of her life. Coming up, we'll talk about how 210 00:13:03,400 --> 00:13:06,880 Speaker 1: Peter Roget's work at the lectern was what helped get 211 00:13:06,960 --> 00:13:09,360 Speaker 1: him through all of this. First, though, we'll take a 212 00:13:09,440 --> 00:13:22,760 Speaker 1: quick sponsor break. Unsurprisingly, given what he had just been through, 213 00:13:23,320 --> 00:13:26,360 Speaker 1: Peter took several months off of work after his uncle's death, 214 00:13:26,559 --> 00:13:29,520 Speaker 1: and he also wrote to a friend that his confidence 215 00:13:29,840 --> 00:13:32,120 Speaker 1: was deeply shaken. He wasn't even sure he should be 216 00:13:32,160 --> 00:13:35,240 Speaker 1: a doctor anymore. But he also knew that he couldn't 217 00:13:35,240 --> 00:13:38,720 Speaker 1: easily switch professions at that point in his life, and 218 00:13:38,800 --> 00:13:41,640 Speaker 1: so he restarted his career sort of by going back 219 00:13:41,679 --> 00:13:44,920 Speaker 1: to lecturing at the Royal Institution. He described it as 220 00:13:45,000 --> 00:13:47,440 Speaker 1: like starting at the bottom of the ladder and just rebuilding. 221 00:13:48,120 --> 00:13:50,960 Speaker 1: But his lectures there were very well received and very 222 00:13:50,960 --> 00:13:55,280 Speaker 1: well reviewed, and this reinvigorated his passion for his profession. 223 00:13:56,120 --> 00:13:59,040 Speaker 1: He realized that he really was better at educating in 224 00:13:59,080 --> 00:14:02,680 Speaker 1: research than he it working with patients, so he slowly 225 00:14:02,760 --> 00:14:05,440 Speaker 1: cut back on his time in practice until he was 226 00:14:05,480 --> 00:14:09,719 Speaker 1: working entirely in writing and lecturing. It also took him 227 00:14:09,760 --> 00:14:13,640 Speaker 1: several years to complete an entry for Encyclopedia Britannica under 228 00:14:13,679 --> 00:14:16,880 Speaker 1: the heading of physiology, but when it was completed this 229 00:14:17,040 --> 00:14:20,480 Speaker 1: was a significant addition to the compendium. One of the 230 00:14:20,560 --> 00:14:24,080 Speaker 1: interesting things here is his assertion that mental functions like 231 00:14:24,160 --> 00:14:29,280 Speaker 1: remembering and thinking are not for physiologists, but for psychologists 232 00:14:29,320 --> 00:14:33,920 Speaker 1: to contemplate. Of course, we know they're interlinked and their 233 00:14:34,000 --> 00:14:38,160 Speaker 1: physiological processes involved, but at the time he was like, no, no, 234 00:14:38,240 --> 00:14:41,600 Speaker 1: we're just going to talk about the mechanics. Peter Roget's 235 00:14:41,640 --> 00:14:46,280 Speaker 1: Encyclopedia entry that examined deafness and muteness was quite insightful 236 00:14:46,320 --> 00:14:49,920 Speaker 1: actually for its time. Again still pretty outdated looking at 237 00:14:49,960 --> 00:14:51,760 Speaker 1: it now, but he was one of the first to 238 00:14:51,800 --> 00:14:54,600 Speaker 1: really make the case that hearing and speech issues were 239 00:14:54,640 --> 00:14:57,960 Speaker 1: not indicators of any kind of lack of intelligence, which 240 00:14:58,000 --> 00:15:00,920 Speaker 1: was a commonly held and of course deeply incorrect belief 241 00:15:01,000 --> 00:15:04,160 Speaker 1: of the time, and he suggested that treatments with things 242 00:15:04,200 --> 00:15:07,880 Speaker 1: like speech therapy, sign language learning, and education in written 243 00:15:07,880 --> 00:15:11,840 Speaker 1: forms of communication could help bridge that gap. A lot 244 00:15:12,040 --> 00:15:15,520 Speaker 1: of what he wrote for the Encyclopedia was crossover material 245 00:15:15,640 --> 00:15:18,120 Speaker 1: that he was also working on in his own research. 246 00:15:18,520 --> 00:15:21,040 Speaker 1: The two branches of his work really fed into one another. 247 00:15:21,640 --> 00:15:24,760 Speaker 1: One particular area in which this happened was his writing 248 00:15:24,840 --> 00:15:28,840 Speaker 1: regarding the structure of the human brain. When Rog's editor 249 00:15:29,080 --> 00:15:32,320 Speaker 1: tasked him with writing an entry on cranioscopy, there were 250 00:15:32,360 --> 00:15:35,400 Speaker 1: a number of new ideas in the field. This entry 251 00:15:35,520 --> 00:15:37,920 Speaker 1: was needed to help people sort out all the different 252 00:15:37,960 --> 00:15:42,760 Speaker 1: ideas that people were espousing. Roge's writing in this effort 253 00:15:42,840 --> 00:15:46,480 Speaker 1: was unflinching in his criticism of some of his contemporaries. 254 00:15:47,400 --> 00:15:51,320 Speaker 1: Johann Caspar Lavataire was a theologian who had advanced his 255 00:15:51,440 --> 00:15:55,040 Speaker 1: theories that a person's appearance could offer clues to their 256 00:15:55,040 --> 00:15:57,640 Speaker 1: intellect and behavioral development. And he did that in the 257 00:15:57,720 --> 00:16:01,040 Speaker 1: late eighteenth century. That was not really a new idea. 258 00:16:02,000 --> 00:16:05,280 Speaker 1: Throughout the eighteenth century, that was a growing theory, and 259 00:16:05,400 --> 00:16:08,360 Speaker 1: his work was followed by the work of Franz Joseph Gall, 260 00:16:08,760 --> 00:16:12,840 Speaker 1: who developed a system called craniology. This would eventually become 261 00:16:12,880 --> 00:16:16,960 Speaker 1: known more as phrenology. For example, Gall believed that he 262 00:16:17,040 --> 00:16:20,960 Speaker 1: could palpate a person's head and correctly determine that person's 263 00:16:21,040 --> 00:16:25,440 Speaker 1: natural talents and skills, as well as their deficiencies. When 264 00:16:25,520 --> 00:16:27,960 Speaker 1: Rogee took a close look at all of Gall's writings 265 00:16:27,960 --> 00:16:31,400 Speaker 1: on craniology, he just found it fundamentally flawed, and he 266 00:16:31,480 --> 00:16:35,080 Speaker 1: wrote exactly that in his Britannica article on the subject, 267 00:16:35,120 --> 00:16:38,800 Speaker 1: writing quote, nothing like direct proof has been given that 268 00:16:38,880 --> 00:16:41,400 Speaker 1: the presence of any particular part of the brain is 269 00:16:41,520 --> 00:16:45,040 Speaker 1: essentially necessary to the carrying on of the operations of 270 00:16:45,080 --> 00:16:49,760 Speaker 1: the mind. Of Gall's methodology, Roge wrote, quote, with such 271 00:16:49,840 --> 00:16:54,400 Speaker 1: convenient logic and accommodating principles of philosophizing, it would be 272 00:16:54,440 --> 00:16:58,240 Speaker 1: easy to prove anything. We suspect, however, that on that 273 00:16:58,440 --> 00:17:01,960 Speaker 1: very account they will be reed as having proved nothing. 274 00:17:02,960 --> 00:17:07,200 Speaker 1: Although Roget had been thorough in his examination of craniology, 275 00:17:07,440 --> 00:17:10,040 Speaker 1: and he had explained his logic and the ways in 276 00:17:10,080 --> 00:17:12,840 Speaker 1: which he had shown Gaul's method to be faulty, there 277 00:17:12,920 --> 00:17:17,320 Speaker 1: was a significant backlash to the Encyclopedia entry. That backlash 278 00:17:17,400 --> 00:17:21,199 Speaker 1: was even among other physicians. People who were starting to 279 00:17:21,240 --> 00:17:25,080 Speaker 1: make their living as phrenologists, of course, were incensed. They 280 00:17:25,080 --> 00:17:28,160 Speaker 1: said that Rogge simply could not comprehend the science involved 281 00:17:28,160 --> 00:17:31,560 Speaker 1: in their work. A team of brothers, Andrew Combe, who 282 00:17:31,600 --> 00:17:34,240 Speaker 1: was a doctor and George Combe, who was a lawyer, 283 00:17:34,440 --> 00:17:37,960 Speaker 1: wrote that quote, the publishers of the Encyclopedia may yet 284 00:17:38,000 --> 00:17:41,479 Speaker 1: find cause to regret having ever had the disadvantage of 285 00:17:41,520 --> 00:17:45,119 Speaker 1: your pen about Roche. The two of them had, of 286 00:17:45,160 --> 00:17:49,600 Speaker 1: course started a phrenology business, and in response to their critique, 287 00:17:49,640 --> 00:17:53,800 Speaker 1: when the next edition of Encyclopedia Britannica was released, Peter 288 00:17:53,920 --> 00:17:57,679 Speaker 1: Roche had updated the article. He changed the entry title 289 00:17:57,720 --> 00:18:01,520 Speaker 1: from craniology to phrenology. He made clear that the validity 290 00:18:01,560 --> 00:18:05,760 Speaker 1: of phrenology was on phrenologist to prove, and he included 291 00:18:05,800 --> 00:18:08,440 Speaker 1: a twenty one page addendum to the article in which 292 00:18:08,480 --> 00:18:11,960 Speaker 1: he refuted all of the comb Brothers' points. He had 293 00:18:12,000 --> 00:18:15,560 Speaker 1: consulted numerous scientists and doctors on the matter to assure 294 00:18:15,600 --> 00:18:18,639 Speaker 1: readers that he was not writing strictly from his own experience, 295 00:18:19,080 --> 00:18:22,480 Speaker 1: and none of them quote afforded any evidence favorable to 296 00:18:22,600 --> 00:18:26,080 Speaker 1: the doctrine. After two years of back and forth with 297 00:18:26,160 --> 00:18:29,520 Speaker 1: the Combs brothers in print, Rage just stopped participating in 298 00:18:29,560 --> 00:18:33,040 Speaker 1: any argument about phrenology because at that point he felt 299 00:18:33,040 --> 00:18:37,320 Speaker 1: that the field was recognized as inherently flawed. Roget wrote 300 00:18:37,320 --> 00:18:41,919 Speaker 1: for other publications in addition to Encyclopedia Britannica, including the 301 00:18:42,040 --> 00:18:46,960 Speaker 1: Cyclopedia or Universal Dictionary of Arts, Sciences and Literature, and 302 00:18:47,119 --> 00:18:51,639 Speaker 1: later the Cyclopedia of Practical Medicine, he wrote entries on 303 00:18:51,680 --> 00:18:55,520 Speaker 1: a range of medical subjects, including tetanus, asphyxia, and aging. 304 00:18:56,200 --> 00:19:00,280 Speaker 1: Outside of requested or assigned topics from his editors, he 305 00:19:00,400 --> 00:19:04,040 Speaker 1: continued to do his own research. Somewhere in the late 306 00:19:04,119 --> 00:19:07,960 Speaker 1: eighteen teens or early eighteen twenty, Roget met Michael Faraday 307 00:19:08,040 --> 00:19:10,679 Speaker 1: and Joseph Plateau, and that led him to start his 308 00:19:10,760 --> 00:19:15,040 Speaker 1: own experiments in optics. He had, as we just mentioned, 309 00:19:15,040 --> 00:19:18,600 Speaker 1: already written about kaleidoscopes and their possible improvements, but at 310 00:19:18,600 --> 00:19:21,520 Speaker 1: this point he really started working with them to see 311 00:19:21,560 --> 00:19:24,440 Speaker 1: how they could be used to elicit various responses from 312 00:19:24,440 --> 00:19:27,960 Speaker 1: the human eye as a research and diagnostic tool, and 313 00:19:28,000 --> 00:19:31,280 Speaker 1: he published his findings in his paper on the Voluntary 314 00:19:31,320 --> 00:19:35,439 Speaker 1: Actions of the Iris in eighteen twenty. He suspected that 315 00:19:35,560 --> 00:19:38,280 Speaker 1: his claim to be able to manipulate the iris might 316 00:19:38,320 --> 00:19:40,639 Speaker 1: be met with questions, and he was clear that he 317 00:19:40,680 --> 00:19:44,040 Speaker 1: could prove his work if challenged, writing, when I have 318 00:19:44,160 --> 00:19:47,520 Speaker 1: stated that I possessed the power of dilating and contracting 319 00:19:47,560 --> 00:19:50,880 Speaker 1: at pleasure the iris, the fibers of which are usually 320 00:19:50,920 --> 00:19:53,400 Speaker 1: considered as no more under the dominion of the will 321 00:19:53,440 --> 00:19:56,720 Speaker 1: than the heart or blood vessels, my assertion has in 322 00:19:56,800 --> 00:20:02,399 Speaker 1: general excited. Much astonishment, however, is strictly the fact I 323 00:20:02,440 --> 00:20:07,480 Speaker 1: can easily satisfy any person who witnesses the movements. As 324 00:20:07,520 --> 00:20:10,359 Speaker 1: he was becoming really well known for his science writing, 325 00:20:10,520 --> 00:20:14,320 Speaker 1: Rogee married Mary Taylor Hobson. That was on November eighteenth, 326 00:20:14,359 --> 00:20:18,320 Speaker 1: eighteen twenty four, in Saint Philip's Church in Liverpool. This 327 00:20:18,560 --> 00:20:22,320 Speaker 1: was truly a love match. The couple eventually had two children. 328 00:20:22,560 --> 00:20:25,639 Speaker 1: A daughter named Catherine Mary, who went by Kate, was 329 00:20:25,640 --> 00:20:28,920 Speaker 1: born in eighteen twenty five. They also had a son, 330 00:20:29,160 --> 00:20:32,840 Speaker 1: John Lewis, born in eighteen twenty eight. Not long after 331 00:20:33,080 --> 00:20:35,760 Speaker 1: he got married, Peter wrote about the optical illusion that 332 00:20:35,840 --> 00:20:38,359 Speaker 1: became his most well known work in that area. It 333 00:20:38,400 --> 00:20:41,280 Speaker 1: was something that he described as quote the illusion that 334 00:20:41,320 --> 00:20:44,399 Speaker 1: occurs when a bright object is wheeled rapidly round in 335 00:20:44,440 --> 00:20:47,320 Speaker 1: a circle, giving rise to the appearance of a line 336 00:20:47,320 --> 00:20:51,120 Speaker 1: of light through the whole circumference. This became more commonly 337 00:20:51,160 --> 00:20:54,439 Speaker 1: known as the spoke illusion, and it started when Roge 338 00:20:54,480 --> 00:20:56,960 Speaker 1: simply noticed the wheel of a cart on the street 339 00:20:57,359 --> 00:21:00,439 Speaker 1: turning through his window. He and Mary. He had only 340 00:21:00,520 --> 00:21:02,359 Speaker 1: been married a few days at that point, they had 341 00:21:02,359 --> 00:21:05,480 Speaker 1: skipped a honeymoon, and when he saw it he apparently 342 00:21:05,520 --> 00:21:09,160 Speaker 1: said Mary, I have just noticed something truly remarkable about 343 00:21:09,280 --> 00:21:12,679 Speaker 1: human vision. He saw how the spokes of the wheel 344 00:21:12,840 --> 00:21:15,800 Speaker 1: looked like they were curved, even though he knew they 345 00:21:15,800 --> 00:21:18,760 Speaker 1: were not, and he was instantly curious about what was 346 00:21:18,800 --> 00:21:22,280 Speaker 1: happening with his vision and perception to create this illusion. 347 00:21:23,240 --> 00:21:25,280 Speaker 1: The story goes that he went out to the street 348 00:21:25,359 --> 00:21:28,399 Speaker 1: and flagged down a vendor with a cart and offered 349 00:21:28,440 --> 00:21:30,720 Speaker 1: to pay him if he would just roll his cart 350 00:21:30,840 --> 00:21:32,760 Speaker 1: back and forth for him for a while so he 351 00:21:32,760 --> 00:21:37,000 Speaker 1: could study the wheels. As the cart wheels turned at 352 00:21:37,000 --> 00:21:40,919 Speaker 1: his direction, Roget took detailed notes. He came to the 353 00:21:40,960 --> 00:21:44,280 Speaker 1: conclusion that what was happening was that his eye was 354 00:21:44,320 --> 00:21:47,639 Speaker 1: taking in the movement as frames, and what looked like 355 00:21:47,720 --> 00:21:51,360 Speaker 1: the spokes of the wheel bending was really retinal after images. 356 00:21:52,320 --> 00:21:56,879 Speaker 1: In eighteen twenty seven, Roget became Secretary of the Royal Society. 357 00:21:57,640 --> 00:22:01,119 Speaker 1: In eighteen twenty nine, Francis Henry Edge, eighth Earl of 358 00:22:01,119 --> 00:22:06,240 Speaker 1: Bridgewater died. Princess was an eccentric fellow and will almost 359 00:22:06,280 --> 00:22:08,600 Speaker 1: certainly be a show topic in the future, but he's 360 00:22:08,640 --> 00:22:11,879 Speaker 1: important to the life of Peter Roge because when he died, 361 00:22:12,320 --> 00:22:15,480 Speaker 1: he left eight thousand pounds to the Royal Society, with 362 00:22:15,560 --> 00:22:19,040 Speaker 1: the use of the money clearly spelled out. He wanted 363 00:22:19,040 --> 00:22:22,040 Speaker 1: the greatest minds of the day to write essays on 364 00:22:22,160 --> 00:22:26,439 Speaker 1: the theme quote the Goodness of God as manifested in 365 00:22:26,480 --> 00:22:29,680 Speaker 1: the Creation, and then that would be collected into book 366 00:22:29,760 --> 00:22:32,600 Speaker 1: form so that a thousand copies of it could be printed. 367 00:22:33,359 --> 00:22:36,800 Speaker 1: This project became known as the Bridgewater Treatises and it 368 00:22:36,840 --> 00:22:40,200 Speaker 1: went to press with eight parts, and of course Peter 369 00:22:40,320 --> 00:22:44,520 Speaker 1: Roje was a contributor. Oh Bridgewater, I can't wait to 370 00:22:44,560 --> 00:22:49,280 Speaker 1: do that episode. For a variety of reasons, Roget wrote 371 00:22:49,320 --> 00:22:53,240 Speaker 1: a two volume title for the Treatises, which was Animal 372 00:22:53,280 --> 00:22:58,040 Speaker 1: and Vegetable Physiology considered with reference to natural Theology. He 373 00:22:58,119 --> 00:23:01,639 Speaker 1: took this project extremely serious, and he ended up writing 374 00:23:01,640 --> 00:23:04,239 Speaker 1: more than six hundred pages for it, more than two 375 00:23:04,320 --> 00:23:08,119 Speaker 1: hundred and fifty thousand words, and it was all meticulously 376 00:23:08,280 --> 00:23:12,800 Speaker 1: organized and accompanied by illustrations. Roge believed at the time 377 00:23:12,840 --> 00:23:16,879 Speaker 1: that this was the most important project of his life. 378 00:23:16,920 --> 00:23:19,880 Speaker 1: In these pages, while explaining the most up to date 379 00:23:19,920 --> 00:23:23,520 Speaker 1: information on scientific concepts, he also made the case that 380 00:23:23,560 --> 00:23:26,040 Speaker 1: the order of nature and what appeared to him and 381 00:23:26,160 --> 00:23:29,480 Speaker 1: many others to be something that was carefully designed was 382 00:23:29,600 --> 00:23:33,360 Speaker 1: proof that there was a god. Roge's treatise was published 383 00:23:33,359 --> 00:23:37,000 Speaker 1: in eighteen thirty four. He had written through yet another 384 00:23:37,200 --> 00:23:40,919 Speaker 1: devastating loss. In the summer of eighteen thirty two, Mary 385 00:23:41,040 --> 00:23:44,879 Speaker 1: was diagnosed with cancer. As her illness progressed in the winter, 386 00:23:45,160 --> 00:23:48,480 Speaker 1: Roge hired Agnes Catlow to take care of the children 387 00:23:48,520 --> 00:23:52,440 Speaker 1: and their education. Agnes was also one of the illustrators 388 00:23:52,480 --> 00:23:56,439 Speaker 1: for Rose's Bridgewater Treatise. Mary died on April twelfth of 389 00:23:56,480 --> 00:24:01,440 Speaker 1: eighteen thirty three, and she was buried in Saint George's Church, Bloomsbury. 390 00:24:01,600 --> 00:24:04,919 Speaker 1: Peter's grief was really intense. He talked about not wanting 391 00:24:04,960 --> 00:24:07,919 Speaker 1: to be alive anymore. And through the loss and the grief, 392 00:24:08,000 --> 00:24:12,680 Speaker 1: Agnes Catlow remained she really held the household together. Yeah. 393 00:24:12,760 --> 00:24:15,840 Speaker 1: She and Kate were very very close for years and 394 00:24:15,880 --> 00:24:18,720 Speaker 1: years and years. And as he had come through this 395 00:24:18,880 --> 00:24:22,359 Speaker 1: darkest period of his mourning, it had been returning to 396 00:24:22,400 --> 00:24:25,800 Speaker 1: writing his treatise that had really kept Roge going. The 397 00:24:25,840 --> 00:24:28,359 Speaker 1: same year that it was published, he moved into a 398 00:24:28,400 --> 00:24:31,439 Speaker 1: new position at the Royal Institution. He became the first 399 00:24:31,760 --> 00:24:36,000 Speaker 1: to hold the role of Fullerian Professor of Physiology, just 400 00:24:36,040 --> 00:24:40,080 Speaker 1: As some of Rose's prior writing had garnered criticism, so 401 00:24:40,240 --> 00:24:44,280 Speaker 1: did this treatise, though this time the roles were somewhat reversed. 402 00:24:44,920 --> 00:24:48,840 Speaker 1: In eighteen thirty seven, Charles Babbage wrote an unauthorized Bridgewater 403 00:24:48,880 --> 00:24:53,600 Speaker 1: Treatise of his own, titled Quote ninth Bridgewater Treatise a Fragment. 404 00:24:54,760 --> 00:24:58,480 Speaker 1: In those he made sharp criticism of Roge's work. While 405 00:24:58,560 --> 00:25:02,520 Speaker 1: Babbage didn't discount the existence of God, he strongly objected 406 00:25:02,520 --> 00:25:05,960 Speaker 1: to the idea of using science to explain the divine. 407 00:25:06,800 --> 00:25:09,840 Speaker 1: Babbage's position was much more along the lines of thinking 408 00:25:09,880 --> 00:25:12,879 Speaker 1: that God had created the universe, but a deity was 409 00:25:12,920 --> 00:25:16,760 Speaker 1: not intervening in the ongoing development of natural law and 410 00:25:16,800 --> 00:25:20,359 Speaker 1: our understanding of it in the long run. While Roge 411 00:25:20,600 --> 00:25:24,119 Speaker 1: may have thought he was working on his most important writing, 412 00:25:24,200 --> 00:25:28,160 Speaker 1: yet his participation in the Bridgewater Treatises didn't really get 413 00:25:28,200 --> 00:25:32,320 Speaker 1: all that much attention outside of criticism. Like Babbage's. A 414 00:25:32,400 --> 00:25:35,800 Speaker 1: new person was about to enter Rog's life at this point, 415 00:25:35,840 --> 00:25:37,679 Speaker 1: and we're going to get into that right after we 416 00:25:37,720 --> 00:25:39,760 Speaker 1: hear from the sponsors. That keep stuff you missed in 417 00:25:39,840 --> 00:25:52,680 Speaker 1: history class going. In eighteen thirty seven, the family Governess 418 00:25:52,760 --> 00:25:55,600 Speaker 1: Agnes Catlow left her job with the Roges to set 419 00:25:55,640 --> 00:25:59,480 Speaker 1: up a school. Peter hired a woman named Margaret's Spowers 420 00:25:59,560 --> 00:26:03,440 Speaker 1: to replace, and while Roget and Spowers never married, they 421 00:26:03,480 --> 00:26:06,679 Speaker 1: soon began a romantic relationship and they lived as a couple, 422 00:26:07,200 --> 00:26:10,520 Speaker 1: although secretly they did not publicly behave as so they 423 00:26:10,560 --> 00:26:13,480 Speaker 1: were a couple. Spowers lived with Roge for the rest 424 00:26:13,480 --> 00:26:17,600 Speaker 1: of her life. In the eighteen forties, Peter Roge's career 425 00:26:17,800 --> 00:26:22,520 Speaker 1: took a number of hits. Marine biologist Robert Grant accused 426 00:26:22,600 --> 00:26:25,320 Speaker 1: him of taking many of his ideas and claiming them 427 00:26:25,359 --> 00:26:29,359 Speaker 1: as his own in the Bridgewater Treatise. In response, Roget 428 00:26:29,560 --> 00:26:33,000 Speaker 1: had the Lancet print all of his correspondence with Grant 429 00:26:33,000 --> 00:26:35,760 Speaker 1: from the eighteen thirties when he was working on the project. 430 00:26:36,359 --> 00:26:39,520 Speaker 1: That included him telling Grant that he was using the 431 00:26:39,560 --> 00:26:43,040 Speaker 1: information in the treatise and that Grant would be acknowledged 432 00:26:43,080 --> 00:26:46,199 Speaker 1: in it, which he was. Now this may look like 433 00:26:46,400 --> 00:26:51,920 Speaker 1: Grant had overblown things that still hurt Roge's reputation. Next, 434 00:26:52,119 --> 00:26:55,200 Speaker 1: Roge was criticized by the Lancet for what they felt 435 00:26:55,280 --> 00:26:58,640 Speaker 1: was him slighting another scientist by keeping his writing from 436 00:26:58,640 --> 00:27:01,800 Speaker 1: being published by the Royal Stiges Society and for this 437 00:27:01,960 --> 00:27:05,680 Speaker 1: the Lancet and many other scientists at the time called 438 00:27:05,680 --> 00:27:09,840 Speaker 1: for his dismissal. Then Roge was part of a bigger 439 00:27:09,880 --> 00:27:13,399 Speaker 1: scandal for the Royal Society in which the Society's Royal 440 00:27:13,560 --> 00:27:17,800 Speaker 1: Medal for Research had been given to Thomas Snowbeck erroneously. 441 00:27:18,440 --> 00:27:20,800 Speaker 1: The paper that had won had not in fact been 442 00:27:20,840 --> 00:27:24,040 Speaker 1: read to the Society. That was something that was part 443 00:27:24,080 --> 00:27:27,960 Speaker 1: of the rules of that metal being issued. This once 444 00:27:28,000 --> 00:27:31,760 Speaker 1: again slighted another scientist, Robert Lee, who had read a 445 00:27:31,800 --> 00:27:35,320 Speaker 1: paper in Midwifery that was lauded as exceptional but had 446 00:27:35,359 --> 00:27:40,280 Speaker 1: not received any recognition. On November thirtieth, eighteen forty seven, 447 00:27:40,359 --> 00:27:44,159 Speaker 1: Peter Roget, who was exhausted by one scandal after another, 448 00:27:44,760 --> 00:27:48,400 Speaker 1: resigned as Secretary of the Royal Society. He would stay 449 00:27:48,440 --> 00:27:51,760 Speaker 1: on for one more year to wrap things up. Although 450 00:27:51,800 --> 00:27:55,720 Speaker 1: he definitely had done some questionable things, he never acknowledged 451 00:27:55,720 --> 00:27:58,959 Speaker 1: any wrongdoing and called all of the accusations against him 452 00:27:59,160 --> 00:28:03,000 Speaker 1: malignant attack hacks. He had been the Royal Society's secretary 453 00:28:03,040 --> 00:28:07,280 Speaker 1: for twenty one years. Peter Roget was seventy when his 454 00:28:07,400 --> 00:28:10,359 Speaker 1: retirement began, but he was still eager to share his 455 00:28:10,440 --> 00:28:13,800 Speaker 1: knowledge and if you read any accounts of him, everyone 456 00:28:13,800 --> 00:28:16,600 Speaker 1: who knows him comments on how he is an extraordinary 457 00:28:16,600 --> 00:28:19,920 Speaker 1: good health, and so he was ready to just keep 458 00:28:19,920 --> 00:28:22,880 Speaker 1: going and doing things. His entire life, from the time 459 00:28:22,920 --> 00:28:26,440 Speaker 1: he was a boy, he had made lists. This had 460 00:28:26,480 --> 00:28:30,000 Speaker 1: started as simply cataloging the things around him, but that 461 00:28:30,080 --> 00:28:33,879 Speaker 1: habit evolved as he matured into listing things related to 462 00:28:33,960 --> 00:28:37,000 Speaker 1: his studies and then his work, and all of this 463 00:28:37,119 --> 00:28:39,640 Speaker 1: list making was something that had helped him make order 464 00:28:39,720 --> 00:28:43,000 Speaker 1: of things in the world, and many modern historians theorize 465 00:28:43,000 --> 00:28:45,760 Speaker 1: that it was the way he dealt with anxiety and depression, 466 00:28:46,160 --> 00:28:49,800 Speaker 1: particularly during the many very stressful periods of his life. 467 00:28:50,800 --> 00:28:53,360 Speaker 1: He had found a very practical use for one of 468 00:28:53,400 --> 00:28:57,160 Speaker 1: his collections of lists. Over the years as he was writing, 469 00:28:57,240 --> 00:29:00,800 Speaker 1: he had kept running lists of words, grouping like words 470 00:29:00,800 --> 00:29:03,400 Speaker 1: together so that he could use them for his own reference. 471 00:29:04,040 --> 00:29:06,920 Speaker 1: So he decided to revisit that list and prepare it 472 00:29:06,960 --> 00:29:10,800 Speaker 1: for publication. He had assembled a preliminary version when he 473 00:29:10,840 --> 00:29:13,360 Speaker 1: was in his mid twenties, but he hadn't gotten it 474 00:29:13,360 --> 00:29:16,560 Speaker 1: to the point that it was suitable for printing even 475 00:29:17,000 --> 00:29:19,360 Speaker 1: in his later life. This whole process took more than 476 00:29:19,400 --> 00:29:22,160 Speaker 1: a decade. He had started it in his early sixties, 477 00:29:22,520 --> 00:29:25,200 Speaker 1: but it wasn't until his retirement that it was ready. 478 00:29:25,920 --> 00:29:28,719 Speaker 1: In the early summer of eighteen fifty two, the first 479 00:29:28,880 --> 00:29:33,440 Speaker 1: version of Rog's Thesaurus of English words and phrases, classified 480 00:29:33,480 --> 00:29:37,200 Speaker 1: and arranged so as to facilitate the expression of ideas 481 00:29:37,600 --> 00:29:42,000 Speaker 1: and assist in literary composition, was published. And while he 482 00:29:42,120 --> 00:29:45,720 Speaker 1: was preparing that first edition, Peter's daughter Kate, had been 483 00:29:45,760 --> 00:29:49,240 Speaker 1: spiraling with some sort of mental illness. She bounced back 484 00:29:49,280 --> 00:29:51,720 Speaker 1: for a little while, but she soon had another what's 485 00:29:51,760 --> 00:29:55,280 Speaker 1: described as a depressive episode, and for a while Roget 486 00:29:55,320 --> 00:29:57,960 Speaker 1: had sent her around to visit friends and family, hoping 487 00:29:58,040 --> 00:30:00,800 Speaker 1: travel would help her. And then there was this idea 488 00:30:00,880 --> 00:30:03,720 Speaker 1: that she should be a governess because that might help 489 00:30:03,760 --> 00:30:06,200 Speaker 1: her focus on other things, but she could not get 490 00:30:06,240 --> 00:30:10,680 Speaker 1: a placement anywhere. Finally, Roget set her up in her 491 00:30:10,720 --> 00:30:14,280 Speaker 1: own place with a small staff, essentially kind of banishing 492 00:30:14,280 --> 00:30:17,880 Speaker 1: the problem from his household. His son and the rest 493 00:30:17,880 --> 00:30:20,200 Speaker 1: of the family were pretty mortified that he had done this. 494 00:30:21,120 --> 00:30:24,640 Speaker 1: Kate did get better, though, and after Margaret's Powers died 495 00:30:24,680 --> 00:30:27,920 Speaker 1: of breast cancer in eighteen fifty two, she moved back 496 00:30:27,960 --> 00:30:31,920 Speaker 1: home with her father for good. The word thesaurus means 497 00:30:32,040 --> 00:30:34,920 Speaker 1: treasure in Latin, and that was exactly what the author 498 00:30:34,960 --> 00:30:39,120 Speaker 1: hoped it would be. Roge stated his intent quite clearly 499 00:30:39,280 --> 00:30:43,760 Speaker 1: in the thesaurus's introduction quote, the present work is intended 500 00:30:43,800 --> 00:30:46,960 Speaker 1: to supply, with respect to the English language, a desideratum 501 00:30:47,120 --> 00:30:50,920 Speaker 1: hitherto unsupplied in any language, namely, a collection of the 502 00:30:50,960 --> 00:30:55,000 Speaker 1: words it contains, and of the idiomatic combinations peculiar to it, 503 00:30:55,360 --> 00:30:58,840 Speaker 1: arranged not in alphabetical order, as they are at a dictionary, 504 00:30:59,160 --> 00:31:02,200 Speaker 1: but according to the the ideas which they express. For 505 00:31:02,320 --> 00:31:05,160 Speaker 1: this purpose, the words and phrases of the language are 506 00:31:05,240 --> 00:31:09,600 Speaker 1: here classed not according to their sound or their orthography, 507 00:31:09,720 --> 00:31:14,760 Speaker 1: but strictly according to their signification. This is verbose gent that. 508 00:31:15,880 --> 00:31:20,040 Speaker 1: But yeah, Peter Roche, the introduction to that thesaurus is 509 00:31:20,080 --> 00:31:25,000 Speaker 1: so long, like the preface is very long. Now. Often 510 00:31:25,160 --> 00:31:28,000 Speaker 1: if you were to purchase at thesaurus today, even if 511 00:31:28,000 --> 00:31:30,640 Speaker 1: it is a Roge thesaurus, it will be in what's 512 00:31:30,680 --> 00:31:34,560 Speaker 1: called dictionary form, meaning that it is alphabetical. But the 513 00:31:34,560 --> 00:31:38,520 Speaker 1: initial editions were, and some still are, as Rege's introduction indicated, 514 00:31:38,720 --> 00:31:44,080 Speaker 1: organized by ideas. He broke them down into classes. Class 515 00:31:44,120 --> 00:31:53,880 Speaker 1: one was words expressing abstract relations. The subheaders here were existence, relation, quantity, order, number, time, change, 516 00:31:53,920 --> 00:31:58,280 Speaker 1: and causation. Class two is words relating to space, with 517 00:31:58,400 --> 00:32:02,280 Speaker 1: the subheader's space and j general dimensions, form and motion. 518 00:32:03,120 --> 00:32:07,440 Speaker 1: Class three was words related to matter, including matter in general, 519 00:32:07,800 --> 00:32:12,080 Speaker 1: inorganic matter, and organic matter. Class four is where things 520 00:32:12,120 --> 00:32:14,880 Speaker 1: really get intense. This is the words relating to the 521 00:32:14,920 --> 00:32:18,920 Speaker 1: intellectual faculties, and this is broken down into two sections 522 00:32:18,960 --> 00:32:22,880 Speaker 1: of its own. First is formation of ideas, which covers 523 00:32:22,920 --> 00:32:26,760 Speaker 1: everything from operations for intellect in general all the way 524 00:32:26,760 --> 00:32:31,200 Speaker 1: to creative thought, and second is communication of ideas, which 525 00:32:31,200 --> 00:32:36,040 Speaker 1: includes nature of ideas, communicated, modes of communication, and means 526 00:32:36,040 --> 00:32:41,440 Speaker 1: of communication. Class five is words relating to the voluntary powers, 527 00:32:41,760 --> 00:32:45,080 Speaker 1: and it's broken down into two sections. Like Class four was, 528 00:32:45,800 --> 00:32:50,640 Speaker 1: this time individual volition and intersocial volition, and class six 529 00:32:50,760 --> 00:32:54,440 Speaker 1: is words relating to these sentient and moral powers. That's 530 00:32:54,480 --> 00:32:57,760 Speaker 1: broken down by types of affections. If all this sounds 531 00:32:57,800 --> 00:33:00,960 Speaker 1: kind of confusing, once you start exploring it, it starts 532 00:33:00,960 --> 00:33:03,840 Speaker 1: to feel pretty intuitive. It has a certain flow to it, 533 00:33:04,640 --> 00:33:07,040 Speaker 1: but for folks who never quite got that vibe. There 534 00:33:07,080 --> 00:33:10,600 Speaker 1: was also an alphabetical index in the back and total 535 00:33:10,760 --> 00:33:15,400 Speaker 1: there were a thousand headings. I definitely remember like having 536 00:33:15,480 --> 00:33:20,160 Speaker 1: the Roges Thesaurus in this form in the public library, 537 00:33:20,320 --> 00:33:26,960 Speaker 1: and like thumbing through it. Yeah, and Roget had intended 538 00:33:27,040 --> 00:33:29,920 Speaker 1: for it to be easy and intuitive. Writing later in 539 00:33:29,960 --> 00:33:33,320 Speaker 1: that rather long introduction I mentioned quote, it is to 540 00:33:33,440 --> 00:33:36,880 Speaker 1: those who are thus painfully groping their way and struggling 541 00:33:36,920 --> 00:33:40,400 Speaker 1: with the difficulties of composition, that this work professes to 542 00:33:40,480 --> 00:33:44,680 Speaker 1: hold out a helping hand. The inquirer can readily select, 543 00:33:44,800 --> 00:33:47,560 Speaker 1: out of the ample collection spread out before his eyes 544 00:33:47,560 --> 00:33:51,240 Speaker 1: in the following pages those expressions which are best suited 545 00:33:51,280 --> 00:33:53,920 Speaker 1: to his purpose, and which might not have occurred to 546 00:33:53,960 --> 00:33:57,800 Speaker 1: him without such assistance. In order to make this selection, 547 00:33:57,960 --> 00:34:01,760 Speaker 1: he scarcely even need engage in any critical or elaborate 548 00:34:01,800 --> 00:34:06,680 Speaker 1: study of the subtle distinctions existing between synonymous terms, for 549 00:34:06,800 --> 00:34:11,160 Speaker 1: if the materials set before him be sufficiently abundant and instinctive, 550 00:34:11,280 --> 00:34:14,560 Speaker 1: tact will rarely fail to lead him to the proper choice. 551 00:34:15,200 --> 00:34:18,160 Speaker 1: And people really liked it. One reviewer noted that you 552 00:34:18,200 --> 00:34:21,880 Speaker 1: could read through the entire book because Roge had arranged 553 00:34:21,920 --> 00:34:23,799 Speaker 1: things in such a way that they had a very 554 00:34:23,840 --> 00:34:28,120 Speaker 1: pleasing flow. It was enjoyable to move through it. The 555 00:34:28,160 --> 00:34:30,839 Speaker 1: concept was embraced really quickly, and soon there were more 556 00:34:30,880 --> 00:34:34,799 Speaker 1: printings needed. Roget continued to add to his entries and 557 00:34:34,840 --> 00:34:37,200 Speaker 1: to refine them, something that all of his years of 558 00:34:37,239 --> 00:34:41,120 Speaker 1: writing for encyclopedias had no doubt prepared him for. In 559 00:34:41,200 --> 00:34:44,880 Speaker 1: September eighteen sixty nine, Roge visited the village of West 560 00:34:44,920 --> 00:34:48,760 Speaker 1: Alvern on vacation, and he died there on September twelfth, 561 00:34:48,800 --> 00:34:52,320 Speaker 1: at the age of ninety. He had continued to revise 562 00:34:52,400 --> 00:34:54,800 Speaker 1: his thesaurus right up to the end of his life, 563 00:34:54,880 --> 00:34:58,200 Speaker 1: and when he died, his son John took over his editor. 564 00:34:59,080 --> 00:35:02,040 Speaker 1: More than forty mon million copies of roges Thesaurus have 565 00:35:02,080 --> 00:35:04,919 Speaker 1: been sold over the years. In nineteen twenty five, Peter 566 00:35:05,080 --> 00:35:09,319 Speaker 1: Rose was deemed the Saint of Crosswordia by New York 567 00:35:09,400 --> 00:35:12,760 Speaker 1: Times magazine. There are also many other things he's been called. 568 00:35:12,880 --> 00:35:14,880 Speaker 1: One thing that we will talk about in our behind 569 00:35:14,880 --> 00:35:19,120 Speaker 1: the scenes Okay, his life was a wild ride, so 570 00:35:19,239 --> 00:35:23,600 Speaker 1: much more than I had anticipated. Yes, I was trying 571 00:35:23,640 --> 00:35:25,759 Speaker 1: to go for a no bummers episode, and then I 572 00:35:25,800 --> 00:35:28,640 Speaker 1: got to all of the sad parts and I say, yeah, 573 00:35:28,920 --> 00:35:33,320 Speaker 1: too late, hot plate, YEP, I understand this for sure. 574 00:35:38,920 --> 00:35:41,920 Speaker 1: Thanks so much for joining us on this Saturday. If 575 00:35:41,960 --> 00:35:44,080 Speaker 1: you'd like to send us a note, our email addresses 576 00:35:44,239 --> 00:35:48,840 Speaker 1: History Podcast at iHeartRadio dot com, and you can subscribe 577 00:35:48,880 --> 00:35:51,960 Speaker 1: to the show on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or 578 00:35:52,000 --> 00:35:56,080 Speaker 1: wherever you listen to your favorite shows.