1 00:00:00,120 --> 00:00:01,920 Speaker 1: This Day in History Class is a production of I 2 00:00:02,000 --> 00:00:09,760 Speaker 1: Heart Radio. Hello and Welcome to This Day in History Class, 3 00:00:09,760 --> 00:00:12,480 Speaker 1: a show that flips through the pages of history to 4 00:00:12,560 --> 00:00:17,160 Speaker 1: deliver old news in a new way. I'm Gabe Blusier, 5 00:00:17,400 --> 00:00:20,200 Speaker 1: and in this episode we're talking about the man whose 6 00:00:20,320 --> 00:00:24,800 Speaker 1: name has become synonymous with the thesaurus, a scholarly jack 7 00:00:24,800 --> 00:00:33,879 Speaker 1: of all trades named Peter Mark Roger. The day was 8 00:00:34,000 --> 00:00:39,880 Speaker 1: January seventeen, seventy nine. English the Saurus author Peter Mark 9 00:00:40,000 --> 00:00:43,879 Speaker 1: Roger was born in Soho, London. He grew up to 10 00:00:43,920 --> 00:00:47,479 Speaker 1: be an accomplished physician and inventor, but is best remembered 11 00:00:47,479 --> 00:00:51,960 Speaker 1: today for compiling an extensive dictionary of synonyms and antonyms 12 00:00:51,960 --> 00:00:56,080 Speaker 1: called the Thesaurus of English Words and Phrases. Hailed as 13 00:00:56,120 --> 00:01:01,000 Speaker 1: the first modern thesaurus, Roger's carefully organized election of related 14 00:01:01,040 --> 00:01:04,920 Speaker 1: words was first published in eighteen fifty two. Since then, 15 00:01:05,080 --> 00:01:07,240 Speaker 1: it's gone on to become one of the best selling 16 00:01:07,360 --> 00:01:11,000 Speaker 1: and most trusted reference books in the world, relied upon 17 00:01:11,200 --> 00:01:14,720 Speaker 1: by students and scholars alike for nearly two hundred and 18 00:01:14,840 --> 00:01:19,120 Speaker 1: fifty years. For writers, a thesaurus is a helpful way 19 00:01:19,160 --> 00:01:22,360 Speaker 1: to broaden their vocabulary and to add shades of meaning 20 00:01:22,400 --> 00:01:25,680 Speaker 1: to their prose. But looking up different words to better 21 00:01:25,720 --> 00:01:28,960 Speaker 1: say what you mean can help anyone communicate their ideas 22 00:01:29,000 --> 00:01:32,160 Speaker 1: more effectively, and that's been the case for as long 23 00:01:32,200 --> 00:01:35,600 Speaker 1: as humans have been putting pen to paper or chisel 24 00:01:35,680 --> 00:01:39,560 Speaker 1: to tablet quill department, you know what I mean. Although 25 00:01:39,720 --> 00:01:42,960 Speaker 1: Roget's Thesaurus is the most famous book of its kind, 26 00:01:43,280 --> 00:01:46,959 Speaker 1: he didn't invent the concept. In fact, the first take 27 00:01:47,040 --> 00:01:49,160 Speaker 1: on a thesaurus is believed to have been written in 28 00:01:49,200 --> 00:01:52,800 Speaker 1: the late first or early second century a d. It 29 00:01:52,880 --> 00:01:55,680 Speaker 1: was the work of an ancient Greek scholar named Philo 30 00:01:55,800 --> 00:01:58,840 Speaker 1: of Biblos, and it consisted of a lengthy list of 31 00:01:58,920 --> 00:02:03,040 Speaker 1: words grouped to acording to their similar meanings. The terms 32 00:02:03,040 --> 00:02:06,600 Speaker 1: thesaurus is actually derived from an ancient Greek word for 33 00:02:06,640 --> 00:02:11,240 Speaker 1: a storehouse of precious items or treasure. Lovers of language 34 00:02:11,240 --> 00:02:14,080 Speaker 1: would agree that's a fitting title for what's essentially a 35 00:02:14,160 --> 00:02:17,679 Speaker 1: storehouse of words, But Philo of Biblos took a more 36 00:02:17,760 --> 00:02:21,400 Speaker 1: straightforward route. He had written a book of synonyms, so 37 00:02:21,440 --> 00:02:25,240 Speaker 1: he called it on Synonyms. It wasn't quite as poetic, 38 00:02:25,360 --> 00:02:29,760 Speaker 1: but it was just as accurate. Unfortunately, no copies of 39 00:02:29,840 --> 00:02:32,760 Speaker 1: On Synonyms have survived to the present day, so what 40 00:02:32,880 --> 00:02:36,240 Speaker 1: little we know about it comes exclusively from references in 41 00:02:36,320 --> 00:02:40,959 Speaker 1: other texts. As for the first surviving thesaurus, that would 42 00:02:41,000 --> 00:02:44,840 Speaker 1: be the Amara Kosha, a collection of Sanskrit words with 43 00:02:44,919 --> 00:02:48,560 Speaker 1: similar meanings written by a fourth century Indian poet named 44 00:02:48,600 --> 00:02:53,560 Speaker 1: Amara Sina. His book wasn't your average stuffy thesaurus either. 45 00:02:54,080 --> 00:02:57,760 Speaker 1: Instead of arranging words alphabetically, he divided them into three 46 00:02:57,800 --> 00:03:01,960 Speaker 1: conceptual groups, words relating to the divine, to the Earth, 47 00:03:02,280 --> 00:03:07,079 Speaker 1: and to everyday life. Each section also contained original poems 48 00:03:07,120 --> 00:03:10,880 Speaker 1: that included the related words. Those verses were meant to 49 00:03:10,919 --> 00:03:14,240 Speaker 1: function as a kind of mnemonic device, making it easier 50 00:03:14,280 --> 00:03:18,240 Speaker 1: for readers to remember each batch of synonyms. Philo of 51 00:03:18,320 --> 00:03:22,480 Speaker 1: Biblos and Amara Sina were among the first to recognize 52 00:03:22,520 --> 00:03:25,720 Speaker 1: the utility of a book that tracks the relationships between 53 00:03:25,720 --> 00:03:29,040 Speaker 1: different words and phrases, but the first the sourus to 54 00:03:29,080 --> 00:03:32,440 Speaker 1: be widely used was the one compiled by Peter Mark 55 00:03:32,520 --> 00:03:36,760 Speaker 1: Roget in the mid nineteenth century. Roger was born at 56 00:03:36,760 --> 00:03:41,720 Speaker 1: Broad Street and Soho, London, on January seventeen seventy nine. 57 00:03:42,120 --> 00:03:45,200 Speaker 1: He was the son of Reverend Jehan Roget, a Swiss 58 00:03:45,200 --> 00:03:48,160 Speaker 1: clergyman who had moved to England with his wife Catherine 59 00:03:48,200 --> 00:03:50,600 Speaker 1: to serve as the minister of a local French church. 60 00:03:51,360 --> 00:03:54,160 Speaker 1: By the time he was eight years old, Peter Roget 61 00:03:54,320 --> 00:03:57,200 Speaker 1: had already taken an interest in list making, which he 62 00:03:57,240 --> 00:04:01,880 Speaker 1: supposedly found calming. At age fourteen, he enrolled in medical 63 00:04:01,920 --> 00:04:06,720 Speaker 1: school at Edinburgh University in Scotland. He graduated in seventeen 64 00:04:07,560 --> 00:04:11,800 Speaker 1: and soon found work at doctor Thomas Beddow's Pneumatic Institution, 65 00:04:12,120 --> 00:04:15,120 Speaker 1: where he helped research the effects of nitrous oxide or 66 00:04:15,400 --> 00:04:20,520 Speaker 1: laughing gas, as an anesthetic. From there, Roger briefly practiced 67 00:04:20,520 --> 00:04:24,000 Speaker 1: medicine in Bristol and Manchester, and then returned to London, 68 00:04:24,120 --> 00:04:27,000 Speaker 1: where he resumed his practice, joined more than a dozen 69 00:04:27,120 --> 00:04:32,440 Speaker 1: scientific societies, and began giving lectures on medical topics. Around 70 00:04:32,480 --> 00:04:35,119 Speaker 1: that time, when he was about twenty six years old, 71 00:04:35,440 --> 00:04:38,760 Speaker 1: Roger developed a peculiar hobby that would later serve as 72 00:04:38,800 --> 00:04:42,400 Speaker 1: the basis of his most famous work. In his free time, 73 00:04:42,640 --> 00:04:45,799 Speaker 1: he began compiling a list of words, which he organized 74 00:04:45,839 --> 00:04:49,239 Speaker 1: by meaning and grouped according to theme. As the years 75 00:04:49,279 --> 00:04:53,359 Speaker 1: went by, Roger continued to grow his catalog of related words, 76 00:04:53,680 --> 00:04:57,720 Speaker 1: but he never thought to publish it until decades later, instead, 77 00:04:57,920 --> 00:05:01,000 Speaker 1: he kept a list to himself, his own private tool 78 00:05:01,160 --> 00:05:04,839 Speaker 1: for adding interest and clarity to his many articles and papers. 79 00:05:05,560 --> 00:05:09,120 Speaker 1: Throughout his life, Peter Roger made a number of contributions 80 00:05:09,160 --> 00:05:12,960 Speaker 1: to modern science, including a sand filtration system that was 81 00:05:13,080 --> 00:05:18,039 Speaker 1: used to purify London's contaminated water supply. In eighteen fourteen, 82 00:05:18,200 --> 00:05:21,479 Speaker 1: he invented the log log slide rule, a ruler like 83 00:05:21,640 --> 00:05:25,040 Speaker 1: device used to calculate the roots and exponents of numbers. 84 00:05:25,400 --> 00:05:28,640 Speaker 1: A version of Roger's slide rule was used in schools 85 00:05:28,640 --> 00:05:32,240 Speaker 1: and universities for decades, pretty much until the invention of 86 00:05:32,240 --> 00:05:36,560 Speaker 1: the calculator in eighteen twenty four. Roger turned his attention 87 00:05:36,600 --> 00:05:40,240 Speaker 1: to the field of optics after observing something remarkable through 88 00:05:40,279 --> 00:05:43,880 Speaker 1: the Venetian blinds of his basement kitchen window. As the 89 00:05:43,880 --> 00:05:46,880 Speaker 1: wheel of a moving carriage rolled from one blind to 90 00:05:47,000 --> 00:05:49,960 Speaker 1: the next, he noticed that the image lingered on his 91 00:05:50,000 --> 00:05:53,279 Speaker 1: eye for a split second after it had disappeared from view. 92 00:05:54,000 --> 00:05:57,240 Speaker 1: He was the first to describe that optical illusion, now 93 00:05:57,279 --> 00:06:00,680 Speaker 1: known as persistence of vision, and his cow relations on 94 00:06:00,720 --> 00:06:04,400 Speaker 1: the subject were used to make improvements to the kaleidoscope. 95 00:06:05,040 --> 00:06:08,560 Speaker 1: Of course, persistence of vision is also what enables live 96 00:06:08,600 --> 00:06:12,760 Speaker 1: action filmmaking and projection to work, and while Roget didn't 97 00:06:12,800 --> 00:06:15,479 Speaker 1: have movies in mind when he wrote his paper, his 98 00:06:15,560 --> 00:06:21,600 Speaker 1: observations did contribute to the medium's development, albeit indirectly. In addition, 99 00:06:21,920 --> 00:06:26,200 Speaker 1: Roger wrote influential papers on everything from natural theology to 100 00:06:26,320 --> 00:06:31,160 Speaker 1: phonology the study of seasonal biological events such as migrations 101 00:06:31,320 --> 00:06:35,599 Speaker 1: and hibernation. He also contributed thousands of new entries to 102 00:06:35,640 --> 00:06:39,400 Speaker 1: the Encyclopedia Britannica, and after being made a fellow of 103 00:06:39,400 --> 00:06:43,039 Speaker 1: the Royal Society, he served as its secretary from eighteen 104 00:06:43,480 --> 00:06:47,520 Speaker 1: seven to eighteen forty eight. By the time he stepped 105 00:06:47,520 --> 00:06:50,479 Speaker 1: down from that position, he had already been retired from 106 00:06:50,520 --> 00:06:54,640 Speaker 1: medicine for about eight years. He stayed plenty busy, however, 107 00:06:54,880 --> 00:06:58,279 Speaker 1: by working on the project for which he's best known today. 108 00:06:58,640 --> 00:07:01,600 Speaker 1: Using his personal list of synonyms and antonyms as a 109 00:07:01,680 --> 00:07:05,600 Speaker 1: starting point, Roger assembled as many related words and phrases 110 00:07:05,640 --> 00:07:08,040 Speaker 1: as he could, believing that a book of them would 111 00:07:08,040 --> 00:07:10,840 Speaker 1: be just as useful to other scholars and writers as 112 00:07:10,880 --> 00:07:16,040 Speaker 1: it had been to him. Borrowing from zoological classification, Roger 113 00:07:16,400 --> 00:07:20,240 Speaker 1: organized his words under a thousand different concept headings, which 114 00:07:20,280 --> 00:07:28,960 Speaker 1: were in turn divided into six broad categories, abstract relations, space, matter, intellect, volition, 115 00:07:29,320 --> 00:07:34,240 Speaker 1: and affections. The book's full original title was just as 116 00:07:34,320 --> 00:07:38,040 Speaker 1: high brow and wordy. It was called The Thesaurus of 117 00:07:38,080 --> 00:07:42,040 Speaker 1: English Words and Phrases, Classified and arranged so as to 118 00:07:42,080 --> 00:07:46,480 Speaker 1: facilitate the expression of ideas and assist in literary composition. 119 00:07:47,240 --> 00:07:51,040 Speaker 1: Despite that mouthful of a title, Roger's The Sourus quickly 120 00:07:51,080 --> 00:07:54,480 Speaker 1: became the go to source for synonym seekers. As the 121 00:07:54,520 --> 00:07:57,360 Speaker 1: culmination of half a century of work, it was the 122 00:07:57,440 --> 00:08:01,480 Speaker 1: most comprehensive the Sourus ever created to that point. It 123 00:08:01,560 --> 00:08:05,520 Speaker 1: also differed from other similar books by retaining Roget's thematic 124 00:08:05,640 --> 00:08:09,920 Speaker 1: arrangement rather than just listing the words alphabetically, although and 125 00:08:10,080 --> 00:08:13,440 Speaker 1: alphabetical index was added at the last minute to make 126 00:08:13,440 --> 00:08:17,480 Speaker 1: the book more accessible. For all those reasons, Roger's the 127 00:08:17,560 --> 00:08:21,160 Speaker 1: Saurus sold briskly. In fact, by the time of the 128 00:08:21,200 --> 00:08:24,920 Speaker 1: author's death on September twelfth, eighteen sixty nine, the book 129 00:08:24,960 --> 00:08:30,360 Speaker 1: had already been revised and reprinted nearly thirty times. Roget's 130 00:08:30,480 --> 00:08:34,200 Speaker 1: son carried on the revisions himself, and his family retained 131 00:08:34,240 --> 00:08:37,600 Speaker 1: control of the copyright all the way until nineteen fifty two. 132 00:08:38,240 --> 00:08:42,240 Speaker 1: Since its initial publication, Roget's The Surus has never gone 133 00:08:42,240 --> 00:08:45,439 Speaker 1: out of print, and today it remains a widely used 134 00:08:45,520 --> 00:08:49,839 Speaker 1: literary tool, both in print and digital form. More than 135 00:08:49,960 --> 00:08:53,080 Speaker 1: forty million copies have been sold to date, and while 136 00:08:53,120 --> 00:08:57,079 Speaker 1: the original edition featured about fifteen thousand words, the most 137 00:08:57,160 --> 00:09:00,480 Speaker 1: recent contains just shy of half a million in words. 138 00:09:01,280 --> 00:09:04,960 Speaker 1: As a lifelong list maker, Peter Mark Roget would be 139 00:09:04,960 --> 00:09:08,000 Speaker 1: proud to see just how much his list has grown. 140 00:09:13,280 --> 00:09:16,760 Speaker 1: I'm gay, Bluesier and hopefully you now know a little 141 00:09:16,760 --> 00:09:20,840 Speaker 1: more about history today than you did yesterday. If you 142 00:09:20,880 --> 00:09:24,000 Speaker 1: have a second and you're so inclined, consider following us 143 00:09:24,040 --> 00:09:28,360 Speaker 1: on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at t d I HC Show, 144 00:09:28,960 --> 00:09:30,960 Speaker 1: and if you have any feedback you'd like to share, 145 00:09:31,200 --> 00:09:33,720 Speaker 1: you can pass it along by writing to This Day 146 00:09:34,000 --> 00:09:37,520 Speaker 1: at iHeart media dot com. Thanks to Chandler Mays for 147 00:09:37,559 --> 00:09:40,360 Speaker 1: producing the show, and thank you for listening. I'll see 148 00:09:40,360 --> 00:09:43,680 Speaker 1: you back here again tomorrow for another day in History 149 00:09:43,720 --> 00:09:44,120 Speaker 1: Class