[Taxacom] Source of quote on taxon ranking

[Mark Schildhauer]

Hi Mark,

Googling indicates source as "The History of Biological Theories" by 
Emanuel Radl (1930).  Radl contrasts Darwin and his followers with 
Leibniz' essentialism--

It was just this idea that Darwin and his followers combated in
using the same words. They asserted that between
isolated phenomena there are only unessential differences ;
in Nature things merge by insensible gradations one into
the other, just as, for instance, the hamlet becomes the
village, the village the little town, the large town, the city.
The distinction between these terms is merely a matter
of arithmetic, or of an arbitrary scale in the minds of those
who use them, s

cheers,
Mark Schildhauer

On 4/25/13 6:22 AM, Mark Hughes wrote:
> Does anyone have any idea who said:
>
> "Trying to decide if a group of organisms is a species, a subspecies or a variety is like trying to decide if a group of houses is a town, a village or a hamlet?"
>
> I thought it was Darwin but I cant find the source anywhere. The quote is from (gin-soaked) memory so may deviate slightly from the original.
>
> Cheers
>
> Mark Hughes (PhD)
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Mark Schildhauer, Ph.D.              735 State St., Suite 300
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