1 00:00:01,280 --> 00:00:04,320 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff You Missed in History Class, a production 2 00:00:04,360 --> 00:00:13,520 Speaker 1: of I Heart Radio. Hello, and welcome to the podcast. 3 00:00:13,520 --> 00:00:17,479 Speaker 1: I'm Holly Fry and I'm Tracy V. Wilson. So I 4 00:00:17,520 --> 00:00:19,880 Speaker 1: think it's a safe bet that if you've done any 5 00:00:19,880 --> 00:00:25,560 Speaker 1: amount of writing, you have probably stumbled across Roger's bizaris. Yeah. 6 00:00:25,640 --> 00:00:30,080 Speaker 1: That's I think one of my earliest experiences of like, 7 00:00:30,160 --> 00:00:34,880 Speaker 1: here are resources in the library. Yes. Uh, And Roger 8 00:00:35,040 --> 00:00:38,760 Speaker 1: was a person, Peter Mark Roget. He was a doctor 9 00:00:38,760 --> 00:00:43,120 Speaker 1: and a scientist who really liked putting things into classification systems. 10 00:00:43,560 --> 00:00:46,880 Speaker 1: But his life was quite dramatic well before he put 11 00:00:46,960 --> 00:00:49,720 Speaker 1: together the book that is his legacy, and today we're 12 00:00:49,720 --> 00:00:52,879 Speaker 1: going to talk all about that. We want to give 13 00:00:52,920 --> 00:00:55,800 Speaker 1: you a heads up that this episode contains discussion of 14 00:00:55,840 --> 00:00:59,560 Speaker 1: suicide and some detailed discussion because of an event that 15 00:00:59,640 --> 00:01:02,200 Speaker 1: shaped Roget's life. So if you would like to skip that, 16 00:01:02,840 --> 00:01:05,160 Speaker 1: jump ahead about two to three minutes to the first 17 00:01:05,200 --> 00:01:08,480 Speaker 1: ad break, starting when we mentioned the year eighteen eighteen. 18 00:01:09,200 --> 00:01:13,360 Speaker 1: Peter Mark Roget was born on January eighteenth, seventeen seventy nine, 19 00:01:13,440 --> 00:01:17,880 Speaker 1: in London. His father, Jean Roget, was a Genevese pastor 20 00:01:18,000 --> 00:01:21,559 Speaker 1: who had moved to England as an adult. He died 21 00:01:21,560 --> 00:01:25,080 Speaker 1: when Peter was just four years old. His mother was 22 00:01:25,160 --> 00:01:30,240 Speaker 1: Catherine Romilly, and her brother, the abolitionist, legal reformer and politician, 23 00:01:30,319 --> 00:01:34,240 Speaker 1: Sir Samuel Romilly, became a significant figure in Peter's life. 24 00:01:34,280 --> 00:01:38,120 Speaker 1: After his father died, Peter referred to his uncle as 25 00:01:38,160 --> 00:01:42,440 Speaker 1: his surrogate father. Peter's mother, Catherine, has been characterized by 26 00:01:42,520 --> 00:01:46,319 Speaker 1: biographers as domineering. She was very involved in her son's life. 27 00:01:47,000 --> 00:01:51,080 Speaker 1: She likely had depression, and sometimes she exhibited paranoia, and 28 00:01:51,160 --> 00:01:53,920 Speaker 1: she really really pushed her son to be an achiever. 29 00:01:54,520 --> 00:01:57,760 Speaker 1: When Peter was just fourteen, his mother moved the entire family, 30 00:01:57,840 --> 00:02:02,680 Speaker 1: including his sister Annette, who likely also had depression, to Edinburgh, Scotland, 31 00:02:02,720 --> 00:02:06,280 Speaker 1: so that Peter could study medicine at the University of Edinburgh. 32 00:02:06,440 --> 00:02:09,520 Speaker 1: He did not only take classes intended to prepare him 33 00:02:09,520 --> 00:02:12,560 Speaker 1: for a career as a doctor, though he also loved 34 00:02:12,680 --> 00:02:17,119 Speaker 1: and studied literature and philosophy in se At the age 35 00:02:17,160 --> 00:02:21,760 Speaker 1: of nineteen, Roget graduated for medical school. Even in this 36 00:02:21,880 --> 00:02:25,040 Speaker 1: early stage of his life, he had this proclivity to 37 00:02:25,080 --> 00:02:29,040 Speaker 1: study the classification and organization of things that was really apparent. 38 00:02:29,680 --> 00:02:33,960 Speaker 1: His medical school thesis, which was about chemical affinities, invoked 39 00:02:34,000 --> 00:02:37,680 Speaker 1: the work of Carl Annaeus and his classification system, as 40 00:02:37,720 --> 00:02:39,760 Speaker 1: well as others who had used it in their work. 41 00:02:40,360 --> 00:02:44,240 Speaker 1: One of Rogget's first projects out of school was, unsurprisingly 42 00:02:44,880 --> 00:02:49,080 Speaker 1: a system of classification. This was very very broad in scope. 43 00:02:49,120 --> 00:02:53,000 Speaker 1: He wanted to sort all knowledge into three categories. The 44 00:02:53,080 --> 00:02:56,440 Speaker 1: first was the material world, which focused on natural history, 45 00:02:56,880 --> 00:02:59,960 Speaker 1: the second was the intellectual world, which included all manner 46 00:03:00,040 --> 00:03:04,000 Speaker 1: of philosophies, theories and belief systems, and the third was 47 00:03:04,080 --> 00:03:07,320 Speaker 1: the world of signs, which was really about words and communication. 48 00:03:07,880 --> 00:03:12,040 Speaker 1: And he collaborated on this work with a philosopher, Dougald Stewart, 49 00:03:12,080 --> 00:03:16,560 Speaker 1: but it was never published. In sevente Roger was published 50 00:03:16,600 --> 00:03:19,720 Speaker 1: for the first time in the journal of Thomas Bettos. 51 00:03:20,560 --> 00:03:23,720 Speaker 1: This is a series of notes regarding consumption as it 52 00:03:23,800 --> 00:03:29,000 Speaker 1: related to various professions. Roger also joined Betters Research Facility, 53 00:03:29,120 --> 00:03:33,040 Speaker 1: the pneumatic medical institution that was in Bristol, England. In 54 00:03:33,160 --> 00:03:38,240 Speaker 1: Bettos group, Roger worked alongside Humphrey Davy experimenting with gases 55 00:03:38,680 --> 00:03:42,000 Speaker 1: and their possible medical uses. One of the things that 56 00:03:42,040 --> 00:03:45,720 Speaker 1: they worked on were possible pain management or sedative uses 57 00:03:45,760 --> 00:03:49,600 Speaker 1: for gases like nitrous oxide. They actually published a paper 58 00:03:49,640 --> 00:03:52,160 Speaker 1: about it in eighteen hundred. That was more than forty 59 00:03:52,240 --> 00:03:55,000 Speaker 1: years before such things were ever used in dental work 60 00:03:55,120 --> 00:03:59,240 Speaker 1: or surgery, and in some cases the researchers were also 61 00:03:59,360 --> 00:04:04,400 Speaker 1: experiment subjects. Roger wrote about his own experience with nitrous oxide, 62 00:04:04,440 --> 00:04:08,440 Speaker 1: which for him was quite disorienting. Quote. I seemed to 63 00:04:08,480 --> 00:04:11,000 Speaker 1: lose the sense of my own weight and imagined I 64 00:04:11,040 --> 00:04:14,680 Speaker 1: was sinking into the ground. I then felt a drowsiness 65 00:04:14,680 --> 00:04:19,200 Speaker 1: gradually steal over me, and a disinclination to motion. I 66 00:04:19,240 --> 00:04:23,159 Speaker 1: was gradually roused from this torpor by a kind of delirium. 67 00:04:23,200 --> 00:04:26,920 Speaker 1: I felt myself totally incapable of speaking, and for some 68 00:04:27,000 --> 00:04:30,240 Speaker 1: time lost all consciousness of where I was or who 69 00:04:30,360 --> 00:04:33,719 Speaker 1: was near me. Roger did not stay with the Bedos 70 00:04:33,800 --> 00:04:36,919 Speaker 1: Institute for very long. He left Bristol in eighteen hundred 71 00:04:36,920 --> 00:04:40,320 Speaker 1: and moved east to London. There he continued his medical 72 00:04:40,360 --> 00:04:43,080 Speaker 1: studies by working with a number of prominent physicians of 73 00:04:43,120 --> 00:04:46,560 Speaker 1: the day. One if those was Edward Jenner. Yeah, his 74 00:04:46,760 --> 00:04:50,080 Speaker 1: connections throughout his life kind of read like the checklist 75 00:04:50,160 --> 00:04:55,080 Speaker 1: of important scientists and doctors of the period. Peter Roget 76 00:04:55,120 --> 00:04:58,039 Speaker 1: also made money during this time as a private tutor, 77 00:04:58,320 --> 00:05:02,480 Speaker 1: he was hired to educate two boys, Burton and Nathaniel Phillips, 78 00:05:02,520 --> 00:05:04,880 Speaker 1: and also to travel with them on a year long 79 00:05:04,920 --> 00:05:08,840 Speaker 1: trip around Europe. Roggie was twenty three when they started 80 00:05:08,839 --> 00:05:11,880 Speaker 1: their trip, heading first to Paris, where things started out 81 00:05:12,000 --> 00:05:15,520 Speaker 1: quite well. They visited museums, they walked the city, and 82 00:05:15,560 --> 00:05:18,279 Speaker 1: they took in the culture. And although Roger was not 83 00:05:18,440 --> 00:05:21,440 Speaker 1: exactly in love with French life he wrote some very 84 00:05:21,440 --> 00:05:25,160 Speaker 1: disparaging things about the French people. Uh he was happy 85 00:05:25,240 --> 00:05:28,119 Speaker 1: to be making money and traveling, and when they moved 86 00:05:28,120 --> 00:05:30,919 Speaker 1: on to Geneva, he found that to be quite enjoyable. 87 00:05:31,920 --> 00:05:35,960 Speaker 1: But then they got trapped there. On eighteen o three, 88 00:05:36,080 --> 00:05:40,000 Speaker 1: Britain declared war on France, and Napoleon Bonaparte declared that 89 00:05:40,080 --> 00:05:44,440 Speaker 1: all adult British citizens and French territories were prisoners of war. 90 00:05:45,279 --> 00:05:47,599 Speaker 1: That means Roger was part of that group. Much to 91 00:05:47,720 --> 00:05:52,120 Speaker 1: his shock and surprise, His charges though were not affected. 92 00:05:52,160 --> 00:05:54,920 Speaker 1: They were under eighteen, and he didn't just want to 93 00:05:54,960 --> 00:05:56,840 Speaker 1: send them off on their own, hoping they would make 94 00:05:56,839 --> 00:06:00,520 Speaker 1: it home safely. They tried to petition the French government 95 00:06:00,560 --> 00:06:04,280 Speaker 1: for an exemption because of their situation but when that failed, 96 00:06:04,360 --> 00:06:07,280 Speaker 1: he started reaching out to their father's business contacts in 97 00:06:07,400 --> 00:06:10,920 Speaker 1: Switzerland try to find these boys a safe haven. He 98 00:06:11,000 --> 00:06:14,359 Speaker 1: moved the boys first to Lausanne and then to Nuctel. 99 00:06:15,240 --> 00:06:19,400 Speaker 1: Then he did something rather ingenious. So if you'll remember 100 00:06:19,480 --> 00:06:22,039 Speaker 1: we mentioned at the top of this episode that his father, 101 00:06:22,200 --> 00:06:26,720 Speaker 1: Gean Roget, was from Geneva, Peter did an impressive bit 102 00:06:26,800 --> 00:06:29,720 Speaker 1: of bureaucratic dancing, and in less than twenty four hours 103 00:06:29,760 --> 00:06:33,000 Speaker 1: he managed to track down his deceased father's birth certificate 104 00:06:33,400 --> 00:06:36,680 Speaker 1: and the government official to provide certification that Peter was 105 00:06:36,800 --> 00:06:41,960 Speaker 1: Jean's son and thus eligible for Genevieve citizenship. This whole 106 00:06:41,960 --> 00:06:46,520 Speaker 1: business had, according to Roget, required a bribe. This let 107 00:06:46,600 --> 00:06:50,000 Speaker 1: him get a limited passport to rejoin the Phillips brothers, 108 00:06:50,400 --> 00:06:52,400 Speaker 1: but then to get home they had to sneak through 109 00:06:52,440 --> 00:06:56,159 Speaker 1: small towns, never speaking English in front of anybody, making 110 00:06:56,240 --> 00:06:59,200 Speaker 1: some more bribes along the way. Eventually they got to 111 00:06:59,320 --> 00:07:01,920 Speaker 1: unoccupied Germany and from there they were able to get 112 00:07:01,920 --> 00:07:05,839 Speaker 1: passage home. Roger later wrote of this ordeal, quote, it 113 00:07:05,960 --> 00:07:09,200 Speaker 1: is impossible to describe the rapture we felt in treading 114 00:07:09,200 --> 00:07:12,440 Speaker 1: on friendly ground. It was like awaking from a horrid 115 00:07:12,560 --> 00:07:16,120 Speaker 1: dream or recovering from a nightmare. Back in England. In 116 00:07:16,200 --> 00:07:19,320 Speaker 1: eighteen o four, Roger moved to Manchester and took a 117 00:07:19,400 --> 00:07:22,960 Speaker 1: job at the public Infirmary. In addition to his work 118 00:07:23,040 --> 00:07:25,920 Speaker 1: as a public health physician, he also put together a 119 00:07:26,040 --> 00:07:30,200 Speaker 1: lecture series there, several in fact, the first was eighteen 120 00:07:30,320 --> 00:07:33,280 Speaker 1: lectures grouped together as an offering of the College of 121 00:07:33,400 --> 00:07:37,120 Speaker 1: Arts and Sciences, and in these classes he returned, as 122 00:07:37,160 --> 00:07:40,880 Speaker 1: ever to his love of classification to form the curriculum. 123 00:07:41,040 --> 00:07:45,160 Speaker 1: Physiology was broken down into four units of classification covering 124 00:07:45,520 --> 00:07:50,640 Speaker 1: the human respiratory, nervous, mechanical and reproductive functions. He also 125 00:07:50,680 --> 00:07:54,200 Speaker 1: taught animal physiology, although that was separated out into a 126 00:07:54,240 --> 00:07:58,200 Speaker 1: different course of fifteen lectures. Because of his efforts and 127 00:07:58,280 --> 00:08:02,360 Speaker 1: assembling those educational course is, he's credited with starting Manchester's 128 00:08:02,400 --> 00:08:06,760 Speaker 1: first medical school. But Manchester didn't keep Roge for long either. 129 00:08:07,200 --> 00:08:09,960 Speaker 1: In eighteen o eight he moved once again to London. 130 00:08:10,240 --> 00:08:13,480 Speaker 1: He set up a private practice but also continued teaching. 131 00:08:14,360 --> 00:08:17,160 Speaker 1: This time it was at the Russell Institution, and he 132 00:08:17,240 --> 00:08:20,120 Speaker 1: built on the lecture plans he had worked on in Manchester. 133 00:08:21,000 --> 00:08:24,080 Speaker 1: In eighteen o nine, he finally gained his Royal College 134 00:08:24,080 --> 00:08:26,520 Speaker 1: of Physicians license, and at that point he joined the 135 00:08:26,520 --> 00:08:30,520 Speaker 1: Medical and tru Urgical Society. In eighteen eleven he became 136 00:08:30,520 --> 00:08:33,440 Speaker 1: the Society's secretary, and in that role he headed up 137 00:08:33,440 --> 00:08:37,840 Speaker 1: to society's periodical transactions. In eighteen twelve, he published his 138 00:08:37,880 --> 00:08:40,240 Speaker 1: own paper in IT which was about the detection of 139 00:08:40,440 --> 00:08:44,920 Speaker 1: arsenic in poisoning cases. That same year he also became 140 00:08:44,960 --> 00:08:49,240 Speaker 1: the professor of Comparative anatomy at the Royal Institution. Throughout 141 00:08:49,400 --> 00:08:52,160 Speaker 1: his time as a lecturer there, establishing a framework of 142 00:08:52,200 --> 00:08:56,360 Speaker 1: classification for any subject was always imparted in his lectures. 143 00:08:57,000 --> 00:08:59,400 Speaker 1: One of the major concepts he was working on through 144 00:08:59,440 --> 00:09:02,320 Speaker 1: all of his practice and teaching was the idea that 145 00:09:02,400 --> 00:09:06,480 Speaker 1: the brain itself was subconsciously classifying things just as part 146 00:09:06,480 --> 00:09:09,360 Speaker 1: of a person's perception of the world, and he referred 147 00:09:09,400 --> 00:09:12,960 Speaker 1: to the brain as quote an organ of association. He 148 00:09:13,120 --> 00:09:17,520 Speaker 1: innovated outside of physiology inventing a device in eighteen fourteen 149 00:09:17,559 --> 00:09:20,600 Speaker 1: that he called a log log scale. This was a 150 00:09:20,720 --> 00:09:25,080 Speaker 1: spiral slide rule that could add the logarithms of logarithms. 151 00:09:25,600 --> 00:09:28,400 Speaker 1: The paper on this was published in eighteen fifteen and 152 00:09:28,480 --> 00:09:31,520 Speaker 1: it contributed to Roger becoming a Fellow of the Royal 153 00:09:31,559 --> 00:09:35,560 Speaker 1: Society of London. Eighteen fifteen also marked the beginning of 154 00:09:35,600 --> 00:09:39,120 Speaker 1: a new job that was decidedly in Peter Roger's lane. 155 00:09:39,200 --> 00:09:43,200 Speaker 1: He started working with Encyclopedia Britannica, and his writing there 156 00:09:43,280 --> 00:09:46,720 Speaker 1: included biographies of various scientists and thinkers of the day, 157 00:09:47,200 --> 00:09:51,280 Speaker 1: as well as articles about medical science itself. And this writing, 158 00:09:51,320 --> 00:09:53,360 Speaker 1: truthfully is a little bit of a mixed bag if 159 00:09:53,360 --> 00:09:55,840 Speaker 1: you look at it now. It was all pretty advanced 160 00:09:55,840 --> 00:09:59,439 Speaker 1: for the early nineteenth century, but today obviously a lot 161 00:09:59,480 --> 00:10:02,520 Speaker 1: of it is outdated or just flat out wrong. He 162 00:10:02,559 --> 00:10:06,239 Speaker 1: wrote a significant article on the kaleidoscope, which expanded available 163 00:10:06,280 --> 00:10:09,200 Speaker 1: knowledge of optics and the workings of the human eye, 164 00:10:09,360 --> 00:10:12,560 Speaker 1: and he produced a lengthy article on physiology, and in 165 00:10:12,600 --> 00:10:16,080 Speaker 1: that physiology writing he continued to espouse his approach to 166 00:10:16,160 --> 00:10:19,880 Speaker 1: categorizing the workings of the human body. This was where 167 00:10:19,880 --> 00:10:23,040 Speaker 1: an area that Roger had been interested in really came 168 00:10:23,080 --> 00:10:27,720 Speaker 1: to the forefront. That was the nervous system. At this time, 169 00:10:27,880 --> 00:10:30,880 Speaker 1: knowledge of the nervous system and exactly how it functioned 170 00:10:30,880 --> 00:10:34,200 Speaker 1: were still pretty primitive. That was something Roger acknowledged in 171 00:10:34,320 --> 00:10:38,079 Speaker 1: his writing, but he did note, as others before him 172 00:10:38,160 --> 00:10:41,360 Speaker 1: had that the nervous system quote bears a greater resemblance 173 00:10:41,400 --> 00:10:45,680 Speaker 1: to the transmission of the electric agency along conducting wires 174 00:10:46,160 --> 00:10:49,000 Speaker 1: than to any other fact we are acquainted with in nature. 175 00:10:49,679 --> 00:10:54,199 Speaker 1: In eighteen eighteen, Roger's family went through a horrible series 176 00:10:54,280 --> 00:10:57,520 Speaker 1: of tragedies. It began with his aunt, and that was 177 00:10:57,559 --> 00:11:00,760 Speaker 1: the wife of Sir Samuel Romilly, die of cancer on 178 00:11:00,800 --> 00:11:04,600 Speaker 1: October twenty nine that year. Peter had been her doctor. 179 00:11:05,240 --> 00:11:07,600 Speaker 1: Samuel had been at her bedside for weeks in the 180 00:11:07,760 --> 00:11:10,960 Speaker 1: end for going sleep and food, and once she died, 181 00:11:11,480 --> 00:11:14,480 Speaker 1: his own physical and mental health quickly declined from the 182 00:11:14,520 --> 00:11:18,160 Speaker 1: neglect and the stress of the situation. On November two, 183 00:11:18,320 --> 00:11:22,000 Speaker 1: Sir Romilly asked his daughter Sophia to go get Peter Roge. 184 00:11:22,440 --> 00:11:25,760 Speaker 1: Peter was also his doctor, so this wasn't a surprising 185 00:11:25,800 --> 00:11:31,520 Speaker 1: request for somebody who was obviously ill, But when Roger arrived, 186 00:11:31,640 --> 00:11:35,160 Speaker 1: it became apparent immediately that this errand had been a ruse. 187 00:11:35,640 --> 00:11:39,319 Speaker 1: Romilly had wanted privacy because he intended to end his life. 188 00:11:40,080 --> 00:11:42,840 Speaker 1: Once Sophia had left, he had cut his own throat, 189 00:11:43,280 --> 00:11:48,360 Speaker 1: and Peter arrived just afterward. Rose tried to treat his uncle, 190 00:11:48,800 --> 00:11:52,280 Speaker 1: but after scribbling down the cryptic words quote my dear 191 00:11:52,600 --> 00:11:55,880 Speaker 1: I wish on a piece of paper. Remily died in 192 00:11:55,960 --> 00:12:01,360 Speaker 1: his arms. After that, Peter's mother, Catherine, also fell into 193 00:12:01,400 --> 00:12:04,960 Speaker 1: her own deep depression. She became very, very paranoid. She 194 00:12:05,080 --> 00:12:07,960 Speaker 1: was certain that the house staff was working toward her demise, 195 00:12:08,480 --> 00:12:11,640 Speaker 1: and she progressively became kind of closed off from everyone. 196 00:12:12,400 --> 00:12:16,560 Speaker 1: She alternated between paranoid episodes and near catatonia for the 197 00:12:16,600 --> 00:12:20,079 Speaker 1: remainder of her life. Coming up, we'll talk about how 198 00:12:20,160 --> 00:12:23,680 Speaker 1: Peter Roget's work at the lectern was what helped get 199 00:12:23,760 --> 00:12:26,160 Speaker 1: him through all of this. First, though, we'll take a 200 00:12:26,240 --> 00:12:39,480 Speaker 1: quick sponsor break. Unsurprisingly, given what he had just been through, 201 00:12:40,080 --> 00:12:43,120 Speaker 1: Peter took several months off of work after his uncle's death, 202 00:12:43,320 --> 00:12:46,280 Speaker 1: and he also wrote to a friend that his confidence 203 00:12:46,600 --> 00:12:48,880 Speaker 1: was deeply shaken. He wasn't even sure he should be 204 00:12:48,920 --> 00:12:52,040 Speaker 1: a doctor anymore. But he also knew that he couldn't 205 00:12:52,040 --> 00:12:55,480 Speaker 1: easily switch professions at that point in his life, and 206 00:12:55,559 --> 00:12:58,440 Speaker 1: so he restarted his career sort of by going back 207 00:12:58,440 --> 00:13:01,520 Speaker 1: to lecturing at the Royal inst Atitution. He described it 208 00:13:01,559 --> 00:13:03,400 Speaker 1: as like starting at the bottom of the ladder and 209 00:13:03,440 --> 00:13:07,199 Speaker 1: just rebuilding. But his lectures there were very well received 210 00:13:07,240 --> 00:13:11,200 Speaker 1: and very well reviewed, and this reinvigorated his passion for 211 00:13:11,320 --> 00:13:15,080 Speaker 1: his profession. He realized that he really was better at 212 00:13:15,200 --> 00:13:18,440 Speaker 1: educating and research than he wasn't working with patients, so 213 00:13:18,760 --> 00:13:21,920 Speaker 1: he slowly cut back on his time in practice until 214 00:13:21,960 --> 00:13:26,040 Speaker 1: he was working entirely in writing and lecturing. It also 215 00:13:26,080 --> 00:13:29,400 Speaker 1: took him several years to complete an entry for Encyclopedia 216 00:13:29,440 --> 00:13:33,520 Speaker 1: Britannica under the heading of physiology, but when it was completed, 217 00:13:33,600 --> 00:13:37,160 Speaker 1: this was a significant addition to the compendium. One of 218 00:13:37,200 --> 00:13:40,640 Speaker 1: the interesting things here is his assertion that mental functions 219 00:13:40,720 --> 00:13:44,960 Speaker 1: like remembering and thinking are not for physiologists but for 220 00:13:45,120 --> 00:13:50,400 Speaker 1: psychologists to contemplate. Of course, we know there interlinked in 221 00:13:50,440 --> 00:13:54,760 Speaker 1: their physiological processes involved, but at the time he was like, no, no, 222 00:13:55,000 --> 00:13:57,800 Speaker 1: we're just going to talk about the mechanics. Uh. Peter 223 00:13:57,960 --> 00:14:02,040 Speaker 1: Roget's Encyclopedia entry that exam and deafness and muteness was 224 00:14:02,160 --> 00:14:06,360 Speaker 1: quite insightful actually for its time. Again still pretty outdated 225 00:14:06,360 --> 00:14:08,160 Speaker 1: looking at it now, but he was one of the 226 00:14:08,160 --> 00:14:10,640 Speaker 1: first to really make the case that hearing and speech 227 00:14:10,679 --> 00:14:14,280 Speaker 1: issues were not indicators of any kind of lack of intelligence, 228 00:14:14,520 --> 00:14:17,319 Speaker 1: which was a commonly held and of course deeply incorrect 229 00:14:17,320 --> 00:14:20,640 Speaker 1: belief of the time, and he suggested that treatments with 230 00:14:20,680 --> 00:14:24,280 Speaker 1: things like speech therapy, sign language learning, and education in 231 00:14:24,320 --> 00:14:28,000 Speaker 1: written forms of communication could help bridge that gap. A 232 00:14:28,160 --> 00:14:31,680 Speaker 1: lot of what he wrote for the Encyclopedia was crossover 233 00:14:31,760 --> 00:14:34,920 Speaker 1: material that he was also working on in his own research. 234 00:14:35,280 --> 00:14:37,800 Speaker 1: The two branches of his work really fed into one another. 235 00:14:38,440 --> 00:14:41,560 Speaker 1: One particular area in which this happened was his writing 236 00:14:41,600 --> 00:14:45,600 Speaker 1: regarding the structure of the human brain. When Rog's editor 237 00:14:45,800 --> 00:14:49,080 Speaker 1: tasked him with writing an entry on cranioscopy, there were 238 00:14:49,120 --> 00:14:52,200 Speaker 1: a number of new ideas in the field. This entry 239 00:14:52,280 --> 00:14:54,720 Speaker 1: was needed to help people sort out all the different 240 00:14:54,760 --> 00:14:59,520 Speaker 1: ideas that people were espousing. Roger's writing in this effort 241 00:14:59,600 --> 00:15:03,280 Speaker 1: was flinching in his criticism of some of his contemporaries. 242 00:15:04,160 --> 00:15:08,120 Speaker 1: Johann Caspar Lavataire was a theologian who had advanced his 243 00:15:08,240 --> 00:15:11,800 Speaker 1: theories that a person's appearance could offer clues to their 244 00:15:11,840 --> 00:15:14,400 Speaker 1: intellect and behavioral development. And he did that in the 245 00:15:14,480 --> 00:15:18,360 Speaker 1: late eighteenth century. That was not really a new idea. 246 00:15:18,760 --> 00:15:22,080 Speaker 1: Throughout the eighteenth century, that was a growing theory, and 247 00:15:22,240 --> 00:15:24,800 Speaker 1: his work was followed by the work of Franz Joseph 248 00:15:24,840 --> 00:15:29,240 Speaker 1: Gaul who developed a system called craniology. This would eventually 249 00:15:29,320 --> 00:15:33,640 Speaker 1: become known more as phrenology. For example, Gall believed that 250 00:15:33,680 --> 00:15:37,160 Speaker 1: he could palpate a person's head and correctly determine that 251 00:15:37,280 --> 00:15:40,920 Speaker 1: person's natural talents and skills, as well as their deficiencies. 252 00:15:42,040 --> 00:15:44,320 Speaker 1: When Roggie took a close look at all of Gaul's 253 00:15:44,360 --> 00:15:48,080 Speaker 1: writings on craniology, he just found it fundamentally flawed, and 254 00:15:48,080 --> 00:15:51,880 Speaker 1: he wrote exactly that in his Britannica article on the subject, 255 00:15:51,920 --> 00:15:55,560 Speaker 1: writing quote, nothing like direct proof has been given that 256 00:15:55,640 --> 00:15:58,160 Speaker 1: the presence of any particular part of the brain is 257 00:15:58,240 --> 00:16:01,800 Speaker 1: essentially necessary to the carrying on of the operations of 258 00:16:01,840 --> 00:16:06,520 Speaker 1: the mind. Of Gaul's methodology, Roger wrote, quote, with such 259 00:16:06,600 --> 00:16:11,160 Speaker 1: convenient logic and accommodating principles of philosophizing, it would be 260 00:16:11,200 --> 00:16:15,080 Speaker 1: easy to prove anything. We suspect, however, that on that 261 00:16:15,160 --> 00:16:18,760 Speaker 1: very account they will be rejected as having proved nothing. 262 00:16:19,720 --> 00:16:23,960 Speaker 1: Although Roger had been thorough in his examination of craniology, 263 00:16:24,240 --> 00:16:26,680 Speaker 1: and he had explained his logic and the ways in 264 00:16:26,840 --> 00:16:29,600 Speaker 1: which he had shown Gall's method to be faulty, there 265 00:16:29,680 --> 00:16:34,080 Speaker 1: was a significant backlash to the Encyclopedia entry. That backlash 266 00:16:34,160 --> 00:16:37,920 Speaker 1: was even among other physicians, people who were starting to 267 00:16:38,000 --> 00:16:41,400 Speaker 1: make their living as for noologists, of course, were incensed. 268 00:16:41,680 --> 00:16:44,520 Speaker 1: They said that Roger simply could not comprehend the science 269 00:16:44,560 --> 00:16:48,120 Speaker 1: involved in their work. A team of brothers, Andrew Combe, 270 00:16:48,160 --> 00:16:51,040 Speaker 1: who was a doctor and George Combe, who was a lawyer, 271 00:16:51,200 --> 00:16:54,680 Speaker 1: wrote that quote, the publishers of the Encyclopedia may yet 272 00:16:54,760 --> 00:16:58,240 Speaker 1: find cause to regret having ever had the disadvantage of 273 00:16:58,280 --> 00:17:01,800 Speaker 1: your pen about rose A. The two of them had, 274 00:17:01,840 --> 00:17:05,560 Speaker 1: of course started a phrenology business, and in response to 275 00:17:05,640 --> 00:17:09,840 Speaker 1: their critique, when the next edition of Encyclopedia Britannica was released, 276 00:17:10,320 --> 00:17:14,119 Speaker 1: Peter Roche had updated the article. He changed the entry 277 00:17:14,119 --> 00:17:17,720 Speaker 1: title from craniology to phrenology. He made clear that the 278 00:17:17,800 --> 00:17:22,000 Speaker 1: validity of phrenology was on phrenologists to prove, and he 279 00:17:22,040 --> 00:17:24,960 Speaker 1: included a twenty one page addendum to the article in 280 00:17:25,000 --> 00:17:28,520 Speaker 1: which he refuted all of the Komb brothers points. He 281 00:17:28,560 --> 00:17:31,879 Speaker 1: had consulted numerous scientists and doctors on the matter to 282 00:17:31,960 --> 00:17:34,520 Speaker 1: assure readers that he was not writing strictly from his 283 00:17:34,560 --> 00:17:38,440 Speaker 1: own experience, and none of them quote afforded any evidence 284 00:17:38,560 --> 00:17:42,399 Speaker 1: favorable to the doctrine. After two years of back and 285 00:17:42,440 --> 00:17:45,479 Speaker 1: forth with the Coombs Brothers in print, rog just stopped 286 00:17:45,480 --> 00:17:48,879 Speaker 1: participating in any argument about phrenology because at that point 287 00:17:49,280 --> 00:17:52,520 Speaker 1: he felt that the field was recognized as inherently flawed. 288 00:17:53,240 --> 00:17:57,680 Speaker 1: Groger wrote for other publications in addition to Encyclopedia Britannica, 289 00:17:57,800 --> 00:18:03,080 Speaker 1: including the Cyclopedia or Universal Dictionary of Arts, Sciences and Literature, 290 00:18:03,640 --> 00:18:08,320 Speaker 1: and later the Cyclopedia of Practical Medicine. He wrote entries 291 00:18:08,359 --> 00:18:12,280 Speaker 1: on a range of medical subjects, including tetanus, asphyxia, and aging. 292 00:18:12,960 --> 00:18:17,000 Speaker 1: Outside of requested or assigned topics from his editors, he 293 00:18:17,119 --> 00:18:20,840 Speaker 1: continued to do his own research. Somewhere in the late 294 00:18:20,880 --> 00:18:24,720 Speaker 1: eighteen teens or early eighteen twenty, Roget met Michael Faraday 295 00:18:24,800 --> 00:18:27,480 Speaker 1: and Joseph Plateau, and that led him to start his 296 00:18:27,520 --> 00:18:31,800 Speaker 1: own experiments in optics. He had, as we just mentioned, 297 00:18:31,800 --> 00:18:35,400 Speaker 1: already written about kaleidoscopes and their possible improvements, but at 298 00:18:35,400 --> 00:18:38,320 Speaker 1: this point he really started working with them to see 299 00:18:38,320 --> 00:18:41,200 Speaker 1: how they could be used to elicit various responses from 300 00:18:41,200 --> 00:18:44,720 Speaker 1: the human eye as a research and diagnostic tool, and 301 00:18:44,760 --> 00:18:48,040 Speaker 1: he published his findings in his paper on the Voluntary 302 00:18:48,080 --> 00:18:52,240 Speaker 1: Actions of the Iris in eighteen twenty. He suspected that 303 00:18:52,359 --> 00:18:55,040 Speaker 1: his claim to be able to manipulate the iris might 304 00:18:55,080 --> 00:18:57,439 Speaker 1: be met with questions, and he was clear that he 305 00:18:57,480 --> 00:19:00,720 Speaker 1: could prove his work if challenged, writing quote, when I 306 00:19:00,760 --> 00:19:03,600 Speaker 1: have stated that I possessed the power of dilating and 307 00:19:03,680 --> 00:19:07,160 Speaker 1: contracting at pleasure the iris, the fibers of which are 308 00:19:07,240 --> 00:19:09,879 Speaker 1: usually considered as no more under the dominion of the 309 00:19:09,880 --> 00:19:13,320 Speaker 1: will than the heart or blood vessels, my assertion has 310 00:19:13,359 --> 00:19:18,239 Speaker 1: in general excited much astonishment. Such, however, is strictly the 311 00:19:18,320 --> 00:19:23,040 Speaker 1: fact I can easily satisfy any person who witnesses the movements. 312 00:19:24,040 --> 00:19:27,159 Speaker 1: As he was becoming really well known for his science, writing, 313 00:19:27,280 --> 00:19:31,040 Speaker 1: Roget married Mary Taylor Hobson. That was on November eighteenth, 314 00:19:31,160 --> 00:19:35,080 Speaker 1: eighteen twenty four, in St Philip's Church in Liverpool. This 315 00:19:35,320 --> 00:19:39,080 Speaker 1: was truly a love match. The couple eventually had two children. 316 00:19:39,359 --> 00:19:42,359 Speaker 1: A daughter named Katherine Mary, who went by Kate, was 317 00:19:42,440 --> 00:19:46,600 Speaker 1: born in eight They also had a son, John Lewis, 318 00:19:46,640 --> 00:19:50,560 Speaker 1: born in eighteen twenty eight. Not long after he got married, 319 00:19:50,640 --> 00:19:53,400 Speaker 1: Peter wrote about the optical illusion that became his most 320 00:19:53,440 --> 00:19:55,720 Speaker 1: well known work in that area. It was something that 321 00:19:55,760 --> 00:19:58,840 Speaker 1: he described as quote the illusion that occurs when a 322 00:19:58,880 --> 00:20:02,359 Speaker 1: bright object is wheeled rapidly round in a circle, giving 323 00:20:02,480 --> 00:20:04,680 Speaker 1: rise to the appearance of a line of light through 324 00:20:04,680 --> 00:20:08,560 Speaker 1: the whole circumference. This became more commonly known as the 325 00:20:08,560 --> 00:20:12,080 Speaker 1: spoke illusion, and it started when Roger simply noticed the 326 00:20:12,119 --> 00:20:15,480 Speaker 1: wheel of a cart on the street turning through his window. 327 00:20:16,160 --> 00:20:18,280 Speaker 1: He and Mary had only been married a few days 328 00:20:18,280 --> 00:20:20,480 Speaker 1: at that point, they had skipped a honeymoon, and when 329 00:20:20,520 --> 00:20:23,679 Speaker 1: he saw it, he apparently said, Mary, I have just 330 00:20:23,760 --> 00:20:28,280 Speaker 1: noticed something truly remarkable about human vision. He saw how 331 00:20:28,320 --> 00:20:31,240 Speaker 1: the spokes of the wheel looked like they were curved, 332 00:20:31,400 --> 00:20:33,639 Speaker 1: even though he knew they were not, and he was 333 00:20:33,680 --> 00:20:37,040 Speaker 1: instantly curious about what was happening with his vision and 334 00:20:37,119 --> 00:20:40,960 Speaker 1: perception to create this illusion. The story goes that he 335 00:20:41,000 --> 00:20:43,480 Speaker 1: went out to the street and flagged down a vendor 336 00:20:43,560 --> 00:20:46,200 Speaker 1: with a cart and offered to pay him if he 337 00:20:46,240 --> 00:20:48,720 Speaker 1: would just roll his cart back and forth for him 338 00:20:48,760 --> 00:20:52,040 Speaker 1: for a while so he could study the wheels. As 339 00:20:52,040 --> 00:20:56,359 Speaker 1: the cart wheels turned at his direction, Roger took detailed notes. 340 00:20:57,040 --> 00:20:59,800 Speaker 1: He came to the conclusion that what was happening was 341 00:20:59,840 --> 00:21:03,320 Speaker 1: that his eye was taking in the movement as frames, 342 00:21:03,359 --> 00:21:05,919 Speaker 1: and what looked like the spokes of the wheel bending 343 00:21:06,080 --> 00:21:12,320 Speaker 1: was really retinal after images. In seven Roger became Secretary 344 00:21:12,440 --> 00:21:17,040 Speaker 1: of the Royal Society. In eighteen twenty nine, Francis Henry Edgerton, 345 00:21:17,240 --> 00:21:21,720 Speaker 1: eighth Earl of Bridgewater, died. Francis was an eccentric fellow 346 00:21:22,000 --> 00:21:24,960 Speaker 1: and will almost certainly be a show topic in the future. 347 00:21:25,000 --> 00:21:27,879 Speaker 1: But he's important to the life of Peter Roge because 348 00:21:27,880 --> 00:21:31,040 Speaker 1: when he died he left eight thousand pounds to the 349 00:21:31,119 --> 00:21:34,680 Speaker 1: Royal Society. With the use of the money clearly spelled out. 350 00:21:35,280 --> 00:21:38,160 Speaker 1: He wanted the greatest minds of the day to write 351 00:21:38,320 --> 00:21:42,320 Speaker 1: essays on the theme quote the Goodness of God as 352 00:21:42,400 --> 00:21:45,800 Speaker 1: manifested in the Creation, and then that would be collected 353 00:21:45,800 --> 00:21:48,520 Speaker 1: into book form so that a thousand copies of it 354 00:21:48,560 --> 00:21:52,639 Speaker 1: could be printed. This project became known as the Bridgewater 355 00:21:52,760 --> 00:21:56,199 Speaker 1: Treatises and it went to press with eight parts, and 356 00:21:56,280 --> 00:22:00,760 Speaker 1: of course Peter Roget was a contributor. Oh, Bridgewater, I 357 00:22:00,800 --> 00:22:03,280 Speaker 1: can't wait to do that episode. For a variety of reasons, 358 00:22:03,680 --> 00:22:08,639 Speaker 1: um Roger wrote a two volume title for the Treatises, 359 00:22:08,680 --> 00:22:12,840 Speaker 1: which was Animal and Vegetable Physiology considered with reference to 360 00:22:12,960 --> 00:22:17,639 Speaker 1: natural theology. He took this project extremely seriously and he 361 00:22:17,760 --> 00:22:20,439 Speaker 1: ended up writing more than six hundred pages for it, 362 00:22:20,560 --> 00:22:23,399 Speaker 1: more than two hundred and fifty thousand words, and it 363 00:22:23,520 --> 00:22:29,080 Speaker 1: was all meticulously organized and accompanied by illustrations. Roget believed 364 00:22:29,119 --> 00:22:31,840 Speaker 1: at the time that this was the most important project 365 00:22:31,880 --> 00:22:36,080 Speaker 1: of his life. In these pages, while explaining the most 366 00:22:36,200 --> 00:22:39,720 Speaker 1: up to date information on scientific concepts, he also made 367 00:22:39,760 --> 00:22:42,080 Speaker 1: the case that the order of nature and what appeared 368 00:22:42,080 --> 00:22:44,520 Speaker 1: to him and many others to be something that was 369 00:22:44,600 --> 00:22:49,000 Speaker 1: carefully designed, was proof that there was a god. Roget's 370 00:22:49,040 --> 00:22:52,800 Speaker 1: treatise was published in eighteen thirty four. He had written 371 00:22:52,800 --> 00:22:56,480 Speaker 1: through yet another devastating loss. In the summer of eighteen 372 00:22:56,520 --> 00:23:00,640 Speaker 1: thirty two, Mary was diagnosed with cancer. As her illness 373 00:23:00,640 --> 00:23:04,320 Speaker 1: progressed in the winter, Roger hired Agnes Catlow to take 374 00:23:04,359 --> 00:23:07,800 Speaker 1: care of the children and their education. Agnes was also 375 00:23:07,880 --> 00:23:12,320 Speaker 1: one of the illustrators for Roger's Bridgewater Treatise. Mary died 376 00:23:12,359 --> 00:23:14,879 Speaker 1: on April twelfth of eighteen thirty three, and she was 377 00:23:14,920 --> 00:23:19,399 Speaker 1: buried in St. George's Church in Bloomsbury. Peter's grief was 378 00:23:19,480 --> 00:23:22,920 Speaker 1: really intense. He talked about not wanting to be alive anymore, 379 00:23:23,160 --> 00:23:26,160 Speaker 1: and through the loss and the grief, Agnes Catlow remained 380 00:23:26,600 --> 00:23:30,080 Speaker 1: she really held the household together. Yes, she and Kate 381 00:23:30,119 --> 00:23:33,359 Speaker 1: were very very close for years and years and years, 382 00:23:34,000 --> 00:23:36,719 Speaker 1: and as he had come through this darkest period of 383 00:23:36,760 --> 00:23:40,120 Speaker 1: his morning, it had been returning to writing his treatise 384 00:23:40,160 --> 00:23:43,199 Speaker 1: that had really kept Roget going. The same year that 385 00:23:43,280 --> 00:23:45,879 Speaker 1: it was published, he moved into a new position at 386 00:23:45,880 --> 00:23:48,960 Speaker 1: the Royal Institution. He became the first to hold the 387 00:23:49,080 --> 00:23:53,240 Speaker 1: role of Fullerian Professor of Physiology. Just as some of 388 00:23:53,359 --> 00:23:58,000 Speaker 1: Roger's prior writing had garnered criticism, so did this treatise, 389 00:23:58,600 --> 00:24:02,720 Speaker 1: though this time the roles were somewhat reversed. In seven 390 00:24:02,800 --> 00:24:06,680 Speaker 1: Charles Babbage wrote an unauthorized Bridgewater Treatise of his own, 391 00:24:06,840 --> 00:24:11,960 Speaker 1: titled Quote ninth Bridgewater Treatise a Fragment. In this he 392 00:24:12,040 --> 00:24:16,680 Speaker 1: made sharp criticism of Roget's work. While Babbage didn't discount 393 00:24:16,720 --> 00:24:19,840 Speaker 1: the existence of God, he strongly objected to the idea 394 00:24:19,920 --> 00:24:24,800 Speaker 1: of using science to explain the divine. Babbage's position was 395 00:24:24,920 --> 00:24:27,400 Speaker 1: much more along the lines of thinking that God had 396 00:24:27,440 --> 00:24:30,639 Speaker 1: created the universe, but a deity was not intervening in 397 00:24:30,640 --> 00:24:34,480 Speaker 1: the ongoing development of natural law and our understanding of 398 00:24:34,520 --> 00:24:38,320 Speaker 1: it in the long run. While Roger may have thought 399 00:24:38,400 --> 00:24:41,919 Speaker 1: he was working on his most important writing yet his 400 00:24:42,000 --> 00:24:45,240 Speaker 1: participation in the Bridgewater treatises didn't really get all that 401 00:24:45,320 --> 00:24:49,400 Speaker 1: much attention outside of criticism. Like Babbage is, a new 402 00:24:49,440 --> 00:24:52,560 Speaker 1: person was about to enter Roget's life at this point, 403 00:24:52,600 --> 00:24:54,439 Speaker 1: and we're going to get into that right after we 404 00:24:54,520 --> 00:24:56,560 Speaker 1: hear from the sponsors. They keep stuff you missed in 405 00:24:56,600 --> 00:25:09,879 Speaker 1: history class going. In eighty seven, the family governess Agnes 406 00:25:09,960 --> 00:25:12,520 Speaker 1: Catlow left her job with the Roger's to set up 407 00:25:12,520 --> 00:25:16,439 Speaker 1: a school. Peter hired a woman named Margaret Spowers to 408 00:25:16,480 --> 00:25:20,200 Speaker 1: replace her, and while Roget and Spowers never married, they 409 00:25:20,240 --> 00:25:23,439 Speaker 1: soon began a romantic relationship and they lived as a couple, 410 00:25:23,960 --> 00:25:27,320 Speaker 1: although secretly they did not publicly behave as though they 411 00:25:27,320 --> 00:25:30,280 Speaker 1: were a couple. Spowers lived with Roger for the rest 412 00:25:30,280 --> 00:25:34,399 Speaker 1: of her life. In the eighteen forties, Peter Roger's career 413 00:25:34,520 --> 00:25:39,320 Speaker 1: took a number of hits. Marine biologists Robert Grant accused 414 00:25:39,359 --> 00:25:42,080 Speaker 1: him of taking many of his ideas and claiming them 415 00:25:42,119 --> 00:25:46,080 Speaker 1: as his own and the Bridgewater Treatise. In response, Roger 416 00:25:46,320 --> 00:25:49,760 Speaker 1: had the Lancet print all of his correspondence with Grant 417 00:25:49,800 --> 00:25:52,000 Speaker 1: from the eighteen thirties when he was working on the 418 00:25:52,040 --> 00:25:56,200 Speaker 1: project that included him telling Grant that he was using 419 00:25:56,200 --> 00:25:59,119 Speaker 1: the information in the treatise and that Grant would be 420 00:25:59,160 --> 00:26:02,680 Speaker 1: acknowledged in it, which he was. Well, this may look 421 00:26:02,840 --> 00:26:08,639 Speaker 1: like Grant had overblown things that still hurt Roget's reputation. Next, 422 00:26:08,880 --> 00:26:11,960 Speaker 1: Roger was criticized by the Lancet for what they felt 423 00:26:12,040 --> 00:26:15,400 Speaker 1: was him slighting another scientist by keeping his writing from 424 00:26:15,400 --> 00:26:18,800 Speaker 1: being published by the Royal Society, and for this the 425 00:26:18,880 --> 00:26:22,560 Speaker 1: Lancet and many other scientists at the time called for 426 00:26:22,640 --> 00:26:27,080 Speaker 1: his dismissal. Then Roger was part of a bigger scandal 427 00:26:27,119 --> 00:26:30,639 Speaker 1: for the Royal Society in which the Society's Royal Medal 428 00:26:30,720 --> 00:26:35,320 Speaker 1: for Research had been given to Thomas Snowbeck erroneously, the 429 00:26:35,359 --> 00:26:37,840 Speaker 1: paper that had won had not in fact been read 430 00:26:37,840 --> 00:26:40,919 Speaker 1: to the Society. That was something that was part of 431 00:26:40,920 --> 00:26:44,760 Speaker 1: the rules of that that metal being issued. This once 432 00:26:44,760 --> 00:26:48,520 Speaker 1: again slighted another scientist, Robert Lee, who had read a 433 00:26:48,560 --> 00:26:52,080 Speaker 1: paper in Midwiffery that was lauded as exceptional but had 434 00:26:52,119 --> 00:26:58,320 Speaker 1: not received any recognition. On November seven, Peter Roger, who 435 00:26:58,359 --> 00:27:03,000 Speaker 1: was exhausted by one handle after another, resigned as Secretary 436 00:27:03,040 --> 00:27:05,840 Speaker 1: of the Royal Society. He would stay on for one 437 00:27:05,920 --> 00:27:09,600 Speaker 1: more year to wrap things up, although he definitely had 438 00:27:09,680 --> 00:27:13,560 Speaker 1: done some questionable things. He never acknowledged any wrongdoing and 439 00:27:13,600 --> 00:27:17,840 Speaker 1: called all of the accusations against him malignant attacks. He 440 00:27:17,920 --> 00:27:21,320 Speaker 1: had been the Royal Society's secretary for twenty one years. 441 00:27:22,119 --> 00:27:25,720 Speaker 1: Peter roget with seventy when his retirement began, but he 442 00:27:25,760 --> 00:27:28,479 Speaker 1: was still eager to share his knowledge, and if you 443 00:27:28,480 --> 00:27:31,720 Speaker 1: read any accounts of him, everyone who knows him comments 444 00:27:31,760 --> 00:27:35,239 Speaker 1: on how he is an extraordinary good health um And 445 00:27:35,320 --> 00:27:37,760 Speaker 1: so he was ready to just keep going and doing things. 446 00:27:38,160 --> 00:27:40,959 Speaker 1: His entire life, from the time he was a boy, 447 00:27:41,040 --> 00:27:45,080 Speaker 1: he had made lists. This had started as simply cataloging 448 00:27:45,119 --> 00:27:48,080 Speaker 1: the things around him, but that habit evolved as he 449 00:27:48,160 --> 00:27:51,920 Speaker 1: matured into listing things related to his studies and then 450 00:27:52,000 --> 00:27:55,000 Speaker 1: his work, and all of this list making with something 451 00:27:55,040 --> 00:27:57,719 Speaker 1: that had helped him make order of things in the world, 452 00:27:57,760 --> 00:28:00,560 Speaker 1: and many modern historians theorized that he was the way 453 00:28:00,600 --> 00:28:04,560 Speaker 1: he dealt with anxiety and depression, particularly during the many 454 00:28:04,760 --> 00:28:08,200 Speaker 1: very stressful periods of his life. He had found a 455 00:28:08,280 --> 00:28:11,800 Speaker 1: very practical use for one of his collections of lists. 456 00:28:12,280 --> 00:28:14,600 Speaker 1: Over the years as he was writing, he had kept 457 00:28:14,720 --> 00:28:18,320 Speaker 1: running lists of words, grouping like words together so that 458 00:28:18,359 --> 00:28:21,080 Speaker 1: he could use them for his own reference. So he 459 00:28:21,119 --> 00:28:24,520 Speaker 1: decided to revisit that list and prepare it for publication. 460 00:28:25,480 --> 00:28:27,840 Speaker 1: He had assembled a preliminary version when he was in 461 00:28:27,880 --> 00:28:30,359 Speaker 1: his mid twenties, but he hadn't gotten it to the 462 00:28:30,359 --> 00:28:34,040 Speaker 1: point that it was suitable for printing even in his 463 00:28:34,160 --> 00:28:36,720 Speaker 1: later life. This whole process took more than a decade. 464 00:28:36,760 --> 00:28:39,640 Speaker 1: He had started it in his early sixties, but it 465 00:28:39,720 --> 00:28:42,880 Speaker 1: wasn't until his retirement that it was ready. In the 466 00:28:42,920 --> 00:28:46,240 Speaker 1: early summer of eighteen fifty two, the first version of 467 00:28:46,560 --> 00:28:50,400 Speaker 1: Roger's the Saurus of English Words and Phrases, classified and 468 00:28:50,520 --> 00:28:54,480 Speaker 1: arranged so as to facilitate the expression of ideas and 469 00:28:54,560 --> 00:28:59,000 Speaker 1: assist in literary composition, was published. And while he was 470 00:28:59,040 --> 00:29:03,120 Speaker 1: preparing that first edition, Peter's daughter Kate had been spiraling 471 00:29:03,200 --> 00:29:06,120 Speaker 1: with some sort of mental illness. She bounced back for 472 00:29:06,120 --> 00:29:09,040 Speaker 1: a little while, but she soon had another's described as 473 00:29:09,040 --> 00:29:12,440 Speaker 1: a depressive episode, and for a while Roger had sent 474 00:29:12,480 --> 00:29:15,440 Speaker 1: her around to visit friends and family, hoping travel would 475 00:29:15,440 --> 00:29:18,000 Speaker 1: help her. And then there was this idea that she 476 00:29:18,040 --> 00:29:21,000 Speaker 1: should be a governess because that might help her focus 477 00:29:21,000 --> 00:29:25,680 Speaker 1: on other things, but she could not get a placement anywhere. Finally, 478 00:29:25,920 --> 00:29:28,320 Speaker 1: Roger set her up in her own place with a 479 00:29:28,360 --> 00:29:33,040 Speaker 1: small staff, essentially kind of banishing the problem from his household. 480 00:29:33,480 --> 00:29:35,600 Speaker 1: His son and the rest of the family were pretty 481 00:29:35,600 --> 00:29:39,360 Speaker 1: mortified that he had done this. Kate did get better, though, 482 00:29:39,480 --> 00:29:43,479 Speaker 1: and after Margaret Spowers died of breast cancer in Et two, 483 00:29:43,920 --> 00:29:47,360 Speaker 1: she moved back home with her father for good. The 484 00:29:47,360 --> 00:29:50,600 Speaker 1: word the sais means treasure in Latin, and that was 485 00:29:50,640 --> 00:29:54,400 Speaker 1: exactly what the author hoped it would be. Roger stated 486 00:29:54,480 --> 00:29:58,600 Speaker 1: his intent quite clearly in the the SIUs is introduction quote. 487 00:29:58,920 --> 00:30:01,920 Speaker 1: The present work intended to supply, with respect to the 488 00:30:01,920 --> 00:30:06,719 Speaker 1: English language, a desidera autumn hitherto unsupplied in any language, namely, 489 00:30:06,760 --> 00:30:09,240 Speaker 1: a collection of the words it contains, and of the 490 00:30:09,280 --> 00:30:14,360 Speaker 1: idiomatic combinations peculiar to it, arranged not in alphabetical order, 491 00:30:14,400 --> 00:30:16,800 Speaker 1: as they are at a dictionary, but according to the 492 00:30:16,920 --> 00:30:20,360 Speaker 1: ideas which they express. For this purpose, the words and 493 00:30:20,440 --> 00:30:24,120 Speaker 1: phrases of the language are here classed not according to 494 00:30:24,160 --> 00:30:29,320 Speaker 1: their sound or their orthography, but strictly according to their signification. 495 00:30:30,280 --> 00:30:34,480 Speaker 1: Is her both gent that bet? Yeah, Peter Roget. The 496 00:30:34,600 --> 00:30:38,240 Speaker 1: introduction to that thesaurus is so long, like the preface 497 00:30:38,440 --> 00:30:42,760 Speaker 1: is very long. Um. Now, often if you were to 498 00:30:42,840 --> 00:30:46,160 Speaker 1: purchase that thesaurus today even if it is a Roget's thesaurus, 499 00:30:46,600 --> 00:30:49,200 Speaker 1: it will be in what's called dictionary form, meaning that 500 00:30:49,320 --> 00:30:52,760 Speaker 1: it is alphabetical. But the initial additions were and some 501 00:30:52,840 --> 00:30:57,720 Speaker 1: still are. As Roget's introduction indicated organized by ideas. He 502 00:30:57,840 --> 00:31:02,600 Speaker 1: broke them down into classes. Class one was words expressing 503 00:31:02,680 --> 00:31:10,560 Speaker 1: abstract relations. The subheaders here were existence, relation, quantity, order, number, time, change, 504 00:31:10,680 --> 00:31:15,120 Speaker 1: and causation. Class two was words relating to space, with 505 00:31:15,160 --> 00:31:20,240 Speaker 1: the subheaders space in general, dimensions, form, and motion. Class 506 00:31:20,320 --> 00:31:24,160 Speaker 1: three was words related to matter, including matter in general, 507 00:31:24,560 --> 00:31:28,880 Speaker 1: inorganic matter, and organic matter. Class four is where things 508 00:31:28,880 --> 00:31:31,640 Speaker 1: really get intense. This is the words relating to the 509 00:31:31,680 --> 00:31:35,720 Speaker 1: intellectual faculties, and this is broken down into two sections 510 00:31:35,720 --> 00:31:39,640 Speaker 1: of its own. First is formation of ideas, which covers 511 00:31:39,680 --> 00:31:43,560 Speaker 1: everything from operations for intellect in general all the way 512 00:31:43,560 --> 00:31:47,960 Speaker 1: to creative thought, and second is communication of ideas, which 513 00:31:47,960 --> 00:31:52,760 Speaker 1: includes nature of ideas, communicated, modes of communication, and means 514 00:31:52,800 --> 00:31:58,480 Speaker 1: of communication. Class five is words relating to the voluntary powers, 515 00:31:58,560 --> 00:32:01,600 Speaker 1: and it's broken down into you sections like Class four 516 00:32:01,760 --> 00:32:07,160 Speaker 1: was this time individual volition and intersocial volition, and class 517 00:32:07,200 --> 00:32:10,960 Speaker 1: six as words relating to these sentient and moral powers. 518 00:32:11,000 --> 00:32:14,160 Speaker 1: That's broken down by types of affections. If all this 519 00:32:14,240 --> 00:32:17,200 Speaker 1: sounds kind of confusing, once you start exploring it, it 520 00:32:17,320 --> 00:32:20,200 Speaker 1: starts to feel pretty intuitive. It has a certain flow 521 00:32:20,280 --> 00:32:23,680 Speaker 1: to it, but for folks who never quite got that vibe. 522 00:32:23,680 --> 00:32:26,880 Speaker 1: There was also an alphabetical index in the back. In 523 00:32:27,000 --> 00:32:31,600 Speaker 1: total there were a thousand headings. I definitely remember like 524 00:32:31,800 --> 00:32:35,600 Speaker 1: having the Rojs the Saris in this form in the 525 00:32:35,640 --> 00:32:42,840 Speaker 1: public library and like thumbing through it. Yeah, and Roger 526 00:32:43,040 --> 00:32:46,240 Speaker 1: had intended for it to be easy and intuitive. Writing 527 00:32:46,320 --> 00:32:49,720 Speaker 1: later in that rather long introduction, I mentioned quote, it 528 00:32:49,880 --> 00:32:52,840 Speaker 1: is to those who are thus painfully groping their way 529 00:32:52,920 --> 00:32:56,440 Speaker 1: and struggling with the difficulties of composition, that this work 530 00:32:56,520 --> 00:33:00,480 Speaker 1: professes to hold out a helping hand. The inquiry can 531 00:33:00,520 --> 00:33:03,840 Speaker 1: readily select out of the ample collection spread out before 532 00:33:03,880 --> 00:33:07,280 Speaker 1: his eyes and the following pages, those expressions which are 533 00:33:07,320 --> 00:33:10,200 Speaker 1: best suited to his purpose, and which might not have 534 00:33:10,240 --> 00:33:13,960 Speaker 1: occurred to him without such assistance. In order to make 535 00:33:14,000 --> 00:33:17,680 Speaker 1: this selection, he scarcely even need engage in any critical 536 00:33:17,840 --> 00:33:22,840 Speaker 1: or elaborate study of the subtle distinctions existing between synonymous terms. 537 00:33:23,360 --> 00:33:26,719 Speaker 1: For if the materials set before him be sufficiently abundant 538 00:33:27,080 --> 00:33:30,200 Speaker 1: and instinctive, tact will rarely fail to lead him to 539 00:33:30,240 --> 00:33:34,360 Speaker 1: the proper choice, and people really liked it. One reviewer 540 00:33:34,440 --> 00:33:37,440 Speaker 1: noted that you could read through the entire book because 541 00:33:37,560 --> 00:33:40,120 Speaker 1: Roger had arranged things in such a way that they 542 00:33:40,120 --> 00:33:43,440 Speaker 1: had a very pleasing flow. It was enjoyable to move 543 00:33:43,520 --> 00:33:47,000 Speaker 1: through it. The concept was embraced really quickly, and soon 544 00:33:47,080 --> 00:33:50,680 Speaker 1: there were more printings needed. Roget continued to add to 545 00:33:50,800 --> 00:33:53,480 Speaker 1: his entries and to refine them, something that all of 546 00:33:53,480 --> 00:33:56,560 Speaker 1: his years of writing for encyclopedias had no doubt prepared 547 00:33:56,640 --> 00:34:00,840 Speaker 1: him for. In September eighteen sixty nine, Roget visited the 548 00:34:00,920 --> 00:34:04,440 Speaker 1: village of West Alvern on vacation, and he died there 549 00:34:04,480 --> 00:34:07,720 Speaker 1: on September twelve, at the age of ninety. He had 550 00:34:07,760 --> 00:34:10,680 Speaker 1: continued to revise his bizarre is right up to the 551 00:34:10,760 --> 00:34:13,399 Speaker 1: end of his life, and when he died, his son 552 00:34:13,520 --> 00:34:17,600 Speaker 1: John took over as editor. More than forty million copies 553 00:34:17,600 --> 00:34:21,680 Speaker 1: of Roget's bars have been sold over the years. Peter 554 00:34:21,880 --> 00:34:25,879 Speaker 1: Roger was deemed the Saint of cross Wordia by New 555 00:34:25,960 --> 00:34:29,040 Speaker 1: York Times magazine. There are also many other things He's 556 00:34:29,080 --> 00:34:31,280 Speaker 1: been called. One thing that we will talk about inner 557 00:34:31,320 --> 00:34:35,400 Speaker 1: behind the scenes, um okay. His life was a wild 558 00:34:35,480 --> 00:34:39,879 Speaker 1: ride so much more than I had anticipated. Yes, I 559 00:34:39,920 --> 00:34:42,279 Speaker 1: was trying to go for a no bummers episode, and 560 00:34:42,280 --> 00:34:44,239 Speaker 1: then I got to all of the sad parts and 561 00:34:44,239 --> 00:34:48,640 Speaker 1: I said, yeah, too late, hot late. YEP. I understand 562 00:34:48,680 --> 00:34:54,840 Speaker 1: this for sure. Um, But I have a fun listener 563 00:34:54,920 --> 00:34:58,120 Speaker 1: mail which actually mentions an episode that Tracy did the 564 00:34:58,160 --> 00:35:01,520 Speaker 1: research for, but oh it tickled my fancy. This is 565 00:35:01,560 --> 00:35:04,440 Speaker 1: from our listener Kristen, who writes, Dear Holly and Tracy, 566 00:35:04,480 --> 00:35:06,000 Speaker 1: I just wanted to let you know how much I 567 00:35:06,120 --> 00:35:09,080 Speaker 1: enjoyed your episode on the Nutcracker. I have seen many 568 00:35:09,239 --> 00:35:11,640 Speaker 1: versions of this ballet over the years and always enjoyed 569 00:35:11,840 --> 00:35:16,480 Speaker 1: the vivacious nature of the ballet. However, the strangest Nutcracker 570 00:35:16,600 --> 00:35:18,839 Speaker 1: I've ever seen had to be the production I saw 571 00:35:18,960 --> 00:35:22,200 Speaker 1: at Las Scala in Italy nearly twenty years ago when 572 00:35:22,200 --> 00:35:25,000 Speaker 1: we were living in Milan. I took my daughter with 573 00:35:25,080 --> 00:35:27,840 Speaker 1: the expectation that she would love the beautiful costumes and 574 00:35:27,920 --> 00:35:31,600 Speaker 1: lively dances. This was a major mistake on my part. 575 00:35:32,040 --> 00:35:36,080 Speaker 1: The production, from sets to dances was very dark and baroque. 576 00:35:36,320 --> 00:35:40,760 Speaker 1: Think Haunted Mansion Ride without the skeletons. One scene even 577 00:35:40,800 --> 00:35:44,120 Speaker 1: featured dancing bats. It was very eerie, so I was 578 00:35:44,200 --> 00:35:46,799 Speaker 1: quite relieved to find my daughter actually slept through most 579 00:35:46,800 --> 00:35:49,000 Speaker 1: of it. I have been a great fan of your 580 00:35:49,000 --> 00:35:52,040 Speaker 1: show since when I listened to your podcast. I feel 581 00:35:52,040 --> 00:35:54,760 Speaker 1: like I'm sitting with two friends over a cup of coffee, 582 00:35:54,760 --> 00:35:58,160 Speaker 1: hearing about your latest discoveries. Even with an m A 583 00:35:58,280 --> 00:36:01,400 Speaker 1: in history, I learned something new every episode, so clearly 584 00:36:01,440 --> 00:36:03,600 Speaker 1: there's a lot of stuff I missed in history class. 585 00:36:03,640 --> 00:36:06,520 Speaker 1: And now for the cat tax. Attached are two pictures 586 00:36:06,560 --> 00:36:09,879 Speaker 1: of our family cat, Gemma jinks. She has a very large, 587 00:36:09,880 --> 00:36:13,120 Speaker 1: fluffy cat with long whiskers, strange meal which makes us 588 00:36:13,120 --> 00:36:16,239 Speaker 1: think she's at least part main cone. She also has 589 00:36:16,280 --> 00:36:18,920 Speaker 1: an affinity for lying on whatever fabric I'm working on, 590 00:36:19,000 --> 00:36:21,600 Speaker 1: in this case a bustle petticoat, because that is what 591 00:36:21,680 --> 00:36:24,399 Speaker 1: cats do. Thank you for all you do to make 592 00:36:24,400 --> 00:36:26,920 Speaker 1: my days more interesting. Um. Yes, cats love to sit 593 00:36:26,960 --> 00:36:30,080 Speaker 1: on fabric, That's their job. I want time travel and 594 00:36:30,160 --> 00:36:32,360 Speaker 1: see this version of the Nutcracker where it is apparently 595 00:36:32,440 --> 00:36:37,400 Speaker 1: the spooky Halloween version. Sounds good. It sounds like, um, 596 00:36:37,440 --> 00:36:39,480 Speaker 1: someone crawled in my brain and said, what can we 597 00:36:39,480 --> 00:36:44,319 Speaker 1: combine to make you happy? I love it When that happens, 598 00:36:44,440 --> 00:36:48,239 Speaker 1: there will be bats. There will be black everything. I mean, 599 00:36:49,200 --> 00:36:52,760 Speaker 1: can you imagine like the snowflakes, but it's all black 600 00:36:52,800 --> 00:36:55,080 Speaker 1: and it's like ash or something. I'm just talking on 601 00:36:55,080 --> 00:36:56,800 Speaker 1: the top of my head. I don't know that's what happened. 602 00:36:57,000 --> 00:36:59,760 Speaker 1: I'm already I'm down a rabbit hole of my own design. 603 00:37:01,880 --> 00:37:05,560 Speaker 1: I want I want the all gothic, very spooky Yogi 604 00:37:05,719 --> 00:37:10,200 Speaker 1: Halloween Nutcracker, and I hope somebody makes it now. Um Kristen, 605 00:37:10,239 --> 00:37:13,400 Speaker 1: thank you for that and for your absolutely beautiful kitty, 606 00:37:13,440 --> 00:37:17,239 Speaker 1: Cashy is so cute. I love a fluffy kitty. If 607 00:37:17,239 --> 00:37:18,759 Speaker 1: you would like to write to us, you could do 608 00:37:18,840 --> 00:37:21,719 Speaker 1: so at History Podcast at iHeart radio dot com. You 609 00:37:21,760 --> 00:37:24,720 Speaker 1: can also find us on all of the social media's 610 00:37:24,840 --> 00:37:27,239 Speaker 1: at mt in History, and if you would like to subscribe, 611 00:37:27,280 --> 00:37:29,400 Speaker 1: you can do that on the iHeart Radio app or 612 00:37:29,440 --> 00:37:37,759 Speaker 1: anywhere you listen to your favorite podcasts. Stuff you Missed 613 00:37:37,760 --> 00:37:40,240 Speaker 1: in History Class is a production of I Heart Radio. 614 00:37:40,560 --> 00:37:43,120 Speaker 1: For more podcasts from I heart Radio, visit the I 615 00:37:43,200 --> 00:37:46,400 Speaker 1: heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to 616 00:37:46,440 --> 00:37:47,280 Speaker 1: your favorite shows.