Discovering Birds: The Emergence of Ornithology as a Scientific Discipline, 1760-1850 - Softcover

Farber, Paul Lawrence

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0801855373 ISBN 13: 9780801855375

Publisher: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1996

Synopsis

In Discovering Birds, Paul Lawrence Farber rejects the view that eighteenth-century natural history disappeared with the rise of nineteenth-century biology. In this penetrating case study of the history of ornithology, Farber demonstrates interesting continuities: as natural history evolved into individual sciences (botany, geology, and zoology) and specialties (entomology and ichthyology), the study of birds emerged as a distinct scientific discipline that remained observational and taxonomic. Ornithologists continued to see one of their primary tasks as classification, and they found no need to alter their approach.

Their efforts were greatly aided at the end of the eighteenth century as colonization and exploration brought new dataa plethora of exotic and previously unknown birds. By the mid-nineteenth century, ornithology had become a scientific discipline with international experts, a large empirical base, and a rigorous methodology of watching and cataloging.

About this title

Book Description:

In this penetrating case study of the history of ornithology, Farber demonstrates interesting continuities: as natural history evolved into individual sciences (botany, geology, and zoology) and specialties (entomology and ichthyology), the study of birds emerged as a distinct scientific discipline that remained observational and taxonomic.

From the Back Cover:

The present study is a case study of the emergence of a particular scientific discipline. I have chosen to look at ornithology for it was among the first and the most important of the separate scientific disciplines to emerge in the early nineteenth century.

About this edition

• Publisher: Johns Hopkins University Press
• Publication date: 1996
• ISBN 10: 0801855373
• ISBN 13: 9780801855375
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 224