Complete Record - Heirs of Hippocrates No. 1405

WILLIAM PROUT (1785-1850) Chemistry, meteorology, and the function of digestion. William Pickering 1834 xxiii [5] 564 [1] pp. 21.9 cm.

For more information on this author or work, see number: 1404

Natural theology was a subject of great popularity in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries until Darwin formulated his theory of evolution. It was while natural history or natural science was widely supported that the Bridgewater Treatises (see No. 1308) were written. Authors of the treatises were to show that there is a unity of purpose in the physical world which is the result of the work of a beneficent and superior Creator. The present work, the eighth and final Bridgewater Treatise, deals with three subjects which Prout was well-qualified to discuss by virtue of his extensive medical and scientific training. Although this is chiefly a book of apologetics which had little impact on the scientific community, in the work on chemistry Prout coined the word "convection" and clearly set forth what is today known as Avogadro's law. The section on meteorology is not particularly noteworthy, but the third section on the biochemistry of digestion was definitely in advance of its time. It was here that he discussed the three basic components of food--carbohydrates, fats, and proteins--and suggested that food was ultimately converted into blood.

See Related Record(s): 1308