BY PETER MARK ROGET, M.D., F.R.S., F.R.A.S., F.G.S. FELLOW OF THE ROYAL college oF PHYSICIANS; MEMBER OF THE SENATE OF THE UNIVERSITY OF LONDON; OF THE LITERARY AND PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETIES ETC. OF MANCHESTER, LIVERPOOL, AUTHOR OF 66 THE BRIDGEWATER TREATISE ON ANIMAL AND vegetable PHYSIOLOGY," ETC. "It is impossible we should thoroughly understand the nature of the SIGNS, unless SECOND EDITION, REVISED AND ENLARGED. LONDON: LONGMAN, BROWN, GREEN, AND LONGMANS, 302 a.17. •BID PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION. It is now nearly fifty years since I first projected a system of verbal classification similar to that on which the present Work is founded. Conceiving that such a compilation might help to supply my own deficiencies, I had, in the year 1805, completed a classed catalogue of words on a small scale, but on the same principle, and nearly in the same form, as the Thesaurus now published. I had often, during that long interval, found this little collection, scanty and imperfect as it was, of much use to me in literary composition, and often contemplated its extension and improvement; but a sense of the magnitude of the task, amidst a multitude of other avocations, deterred me from the attempt. Since my retirement from the duties of Secretary of the Royal Society, however, finding myself possessed of more leisure, and believing that a repertory of which I had myself experienced the advantage, might, when amplified, prove useful to others, I resolved to embark in an undertaking, which, for the last three or four years, has given me incessant occupation, and has, indeed, imposed upon me an amount of labour very much greater than I had anticipated. Notwithstanding all the pains I have bestowed on its execution, I am fully aware of its numerous |