Importance of Historical Data

Marcel Dekker, Inc. 270 Madison Avenue, New York, New York 10016 

Many researchers tend to disregard data obtained by previous workers and prefer to concentrate on their own new measurements. Explanations given are that the old data are incomplete, the laboratories were not as good in the old days, or the old data are not available. These arguments may easily be countered  

It is assumed that the reader is now convinced that historical data are useful. But the most important argument has not yet been spelled out the old data were collected when the water systems were less disturbed by human activity. Thus historical data recorded information that cannot now be collected and serve as a database needed to understand the evolution and dynamics of studied water systems. Historical data also enlarge the time span of repeated observations, the topic of the next section. 

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