School children can often be heard complaining about the vast quantities of
seemingly useless information that they are forced to memorise as part of their
education. Had they been the children of Stone Age hunters, they would have
learned their lessons first hand, where the practical value in everyday life would
have been obvious. Prehistoric people had to become masters of observation,
with an acute knowledge of every plant and animal shape, colour, pattern,
movement, sound and smell in so far as knowledge of these aspects of their
environment enabled them to survive in a hostile world. This urge to find
memorable pattern and harmony in the environment is called taxophilia. The human
taxophilic imperative was so important that it evolved to become as basic and
distinct as the need to feed, mate or sleep. Originally our ancestors may have
classified berries or antelopes as part of their food-finding activities. In the abstract
world of the modern classroom, botany can seem remote, geology boring, and
entomology meaningless. Yet despite these complaints, the taxophilic instinct
remains as an urge to commit to memory huge assemblages of facts on topics that
will hardly ever encounter a need in the future. Information is not just simply
accumulated; it is classified, particularly where there is a current social context,
such as the latest football statistics, scores and titles of pop music, and the makes
and dates of manufacture of motorcars.
The human brain functions as a magnificent classifying machine, and every time we
walk through a landscape it is busy feeding in new experiences and comparing
them with the old. The brain classifies everything we see, and the survival value of
this procedure is obvious. It is also the case with other mammals. A monkey, for
instance, has to know many different kinds of trees and bushes in its forest home,
and needs to be able to tell which one has ripening fruit at any particular season,
which is poisonous, and which is thorny. If it is to survive, a monkey has to become
a good botanist. In the same way a lion has to become a first-rate zoologist, able
to tell at a glance, which prey species it is, how fast it can run, and which escape
pattern it is likely to use.
Taxophilia is the basic behaviour of scientists. In biology it is dignified by the
subject of taxonomy. Taxonomists have outstanding skills in observation and
depiction to describe and communicate anatomical features that are of
significance in placing individuals and body parts in unambiguous categories.
Their illustrations often have pleasing aesthetic qualities, and their early engravings
are now collected as works of art (Figs 1.3-4)
Fig 1.3 Engraved plate from an early 19
th century book on plant taxonomy
Fig 1.4 Wilhelm Eigener (1967) Illustration from ‘The Natural History of Europe’
Hamlyn
