Scientific taxonomy, foundation

Though no one will pretend to defend Bonnet s echelle today, the existence of a scala animantium is a necessary consequence of the doctrine of evolution, and its establishment constitutes, I believe, the foundation of scientific taxonomy (Huxley, 1880 652). 

With an eye on the national funding debates, annelid specialist John Percy Moore strongly supported what Schmitt and Wharton were attempting. Taxonomy certainly needs to be vivified and justified in the eyes of the scientific world and of the sponsoring foundations, to whom it has been misrepresented. He suggested weighty arguments in favor of the plan. 

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