Taxonomy has been defined as "the study of classification, including its bases, principles, procedures and rules;" (Simpson 1961). An alternative definition (of systematics) is "the scientific study of the kinds and diversity of organisms and of any and all relationships among them." Taxonomy is therefore, one of the oldest fields of biological science; because in order to classify, even at the most elementary levels, man had to identify organisms. This necessitated observing, and making comparisons, integrating specific data and developing generalizations from these. Since this is the case, one may suggest that taxonomy is an outdated science, as almost everything has been named and 'pigeon-holed' already. It must be borne in mind, however, that early scientists were merely concerned with writing descriptions and giving names, while in modern days taxonomists are interested in more than describing and naming species. Now they attempt to establish relationships and affinities with more accuracy. [...]
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:QMM.116609 |
| Date | January 1964 |
| Creators | Peter, Monica Adelle Victoria. |
| Contributors | Gibbs, R. D. (Supervisor) |
| Publisher | McGill University |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Coverage | Master of Science. (Department of Botany. ) |
| Rights | All items in eScholarship@McGill are protected by copyright with all rights reserved unless otherwise indicated. |
| Relation | alephsysno: NNNNNNNNN, Theses scanned by McGill Library. |
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