SEROLOGY 



AND SYSTEMATICS 



Intensive serological investigations preceded sus- 

 tained or general interest in other biochemical 

 approaches to systematics. Since serology is, in 

 apphcation and methodology, fundamentally differ- 

 ent from those approaches (for example, studies of 

 specifically known chemical entities), treatment of 

 serology precedes that of particular "natural" 

 classes of compounds in subsequent chapters. 



Although some interest in biochemical 

 applications to systematics presumably developed 

 as a result of the work of Abbott more than seventy- 

 five years ago (1886, 1887a, 1887b), and indeed 

 sporadically the subject was introduced even earlier, 

 as indicated in the preceding chapter, only a hand- 

 ful of important contributions appeared prior to the 



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