Methods of Study in Natural History

added to genera and species, but these were further multiplied by subdivisions of the different groups. But as the number of divisions increased, they lost in. precise meaning, and it became more and more doubtful how far they were true to Nature. Moreover, these divisions were not taken in the same sense by all naturalists: what were called families by some were called orders by others, while the orders of some were the classes of others, till it began to be doubted whether these scientific systems had any foundation in Nature, or signified anything more than that it had pleased Linna3us, for instance, to call certain groups of animals by one name, while Cuvier had chosen to call them by another. These divisions are, first, the most comprehensive groups, the primary divisions, called branches by some, types by others, and divided by some naturalists into so-called sub-types, meaning only a more limited circumscription of the same kind of group ; next we have classes, and these also have been divided into sub-classes; then orders and sub-orders; families and sub-families or tribes; then genera, species, and varieties. With reference to the question whether these groups really exist in Nature, or are merely the expression of individual theories and opinions, it is worth while to study the works of the early naturalists, in order to trace the natural process by which scientific classification has been reached ; for in this, as in other departments of learning, pr... --This text refers to the Paperback edition.