สำนักราชบัณฑิตยสภา

«“√ “√ √“™∫— ≥±‘µ¬ ∂“π ªï ∑’Ë Ú˜ ©∫— ∫∑’Ë Ú ‡¡.¬.-¡‘ .¬. ÚıÙı ∑»æ√ «ß»å √— µπå ıÛÛ Abstract The History of Ichthyology in the West Thosaporn Wongratana Fellow, the Academy of Science, the Royal Institute, Thailand From ancient times, the word “fish” has been used rather loosely to include any animal living in water. The history of ichthyology (the study of fish) may be said to have begun with Aristotle during the Third Century B.C. Pliny the Elder of the First Century and others certainly documented some original observations, but the majority of scholars from that time until some 17 centuries later were content to copy from his work, merely adding a number of fabulous stories and foolish myths. The beginning of modern ichthyology can be traced to John Ray in 1686; however, the credit for devising the basic classification scheme for fish belongs to Carlorus Linnaeus and his colleague Peter Artedi in 1758. Even today an air of mystery surrounds the life-cycle of European eel (Anguilla anguilla). It was Aristotle who pointed out that eels possess no generative organ and argued that they must be spontaneously generated from the “entrails of the earth”. Early in the 20th century, Johannes Schmidt, a Danish scientist, was deputed to study the biology of ells and in 1922 he brought this mystery to an end. Key words : ichthyology, the West