HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT OF ZOOLOGY 443 



In the early part of the seventeenth century (1609) Galileo 

 used the telescope, bringing distant worlds within our nearer 

 view. AVhat the telescope was to astronomy the microscope 

 was to zoology. The invention of the microscope, about 1600, 

 is usually credited to Zacharias Janssen, a Dutch spectacle- 

 maker; it was used in the study of animals by Malpighi 

 (1628-1694), an Italian 

 anatomist, about 1661. 

 Among other subjects 

 he studied the capillary 

 circulation, which Avas 

 beyond the power of 

 Harvey with only his 

 simple lens. In Eng- 

 land the labors of John 

 Ray (1628-1705) added 

 greatly to our knowl- 

 edge of animals. Ray 

 was the first to define 

 the use of the word 

 " species." He laid the 

 foundations of system- 

 atic zoology. 



Zoology of the Eight- 

 eenth Century. To 

 Linnaeus (1707-1778, 

 Fig. 231) is due the 

 credit for the invention of the binomial nomenclature. Before 

 this time there had been the greatest confusion among natu- 

 ralists as to the names of animals and plants. Not only were 

 the names themselves cumbersome, but there was no uni- 

 formity in their use. Linnasus also saw the need of groups 

 higher than species, and he put classification on a more exact 

 basis by recognizing and defining six classes of animals, 



FIG. 231. Linnaeus 



