The fact is, that there wasconsiderable difficulty in inducing Oliver to take upon himself the office ofnresperation,

我感覺應該是"親自"的意義,與Oliver是同位關系，但這里放的地方讓我非常費解？我也找不到take upon onself sth的動詞短語，不知如此理解對不對?

The fact is, that there was considerable difficulty in inducing Oliver to take upon himself the office ofrespiration.

◆這是介詞短語upon himself 提到賓語前，把動賓分隔了。

take upon himself the office of respiration? 等于：take the office ofrespiration upon himself （結構：動+賓+狀）

字面意思：把呼吸空氣的職能拿來放在自己身上。引申意思：“讓自己承擔呼吸空氣的職能”，暗示不借用外力。

◆這個詞組跟 take the responsibility upon oneself （自己承擔起責任來；引為己任），是完全一樣的結構。