Patience, Attentiveness, and Thoroughness are Naturalist ...

Each branch of natural history study demands its special abilities: the superior ear of the birdwatcher, the attention to minute detail of the entomologist, the courage of the herpetologist wading into swamps full of poisonous snakes. But some “field skills” are nearly ubiquitous. Perhaps the most important are patience, perseverance, thoroughness and attentiveness. The birdwatcher searching for that one rare gull on a pond among seven hundred common ones may have to watch for hours in bi...

 The Growth of Taxonomy in the Scientific Revolution

Taxonomy was the biology of the scientific revolution. The opening up of the New World and the Far East provided European scientists with thousands of new species to examine and classify. Establishing botanical gardens, menageries and 'cabinets' of minerals, preserved animal specimens and dried plants were favourite hobbies amongst wealthy collectors. And since the natural sciences were not yet fully recognised by university faculties, these studies remained in the hands of amateurs. Of 48 na...