On February 24, 1921, Chauncey J. Hawkins delivered a paper at the meeting of the Linnaean Society of New York. His title and his topic: “Philosophical Ornithology.”<\/p>\n
Reverend Hawkins suggested that the goal of the scientific study of birds should be explaining their relationship to the rest of the universe — an early statement of the project later to be known as “ecology.”<\/p>\n
The Linnaeans weren’t overly enthusiastic.<\/p>\n
In the discussion that followed, it was the opinion of the members that Mr. Hawkins’s paper was one of destructive, rather than\u00a0constructive, criticism.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
We’re a much nicer crowd nowadays.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
On February 24, 1921, Chauncey J. Hawkins delivered a paper at the meeting of the Linnaean Society of New York. His title and his topic: “Philosophical Ornithology.” Reverend Hawkins suggested that the goal of the scientific study of birds should be explaining their relationship to the rest of the universe — an early statement of … <\/p>\n