Chapter 11: IN THE WILDERNESS OF FORMS: IDEAS AND THINGS IN THOMAS BROWNE'S CABINETS OF CURIOSITY.

Cabinets of curiosities; 17th century literature; Electronic information resource searching; Browne, Thomas, Sir, 1605-1682; Taxonomy; Classification; Renaissance Computer: Knowledge Technology in the First Age of Print, The (Book); Rhodes, Neil; Sawday, Jonathan

The eleventh chapter of "The Renaissance Computer: Knowledge Technology in the First Age of Print," edited by Neil Rhodes and Jonathan Sawday, is presented. Particular attention is given to the categorization methods employed in the seventeenth century, wherein species were organized by their similar features. The visual representation of group specification, the curioso cabinet, is discussed. Thomas Browne's works on the organization of information, including "Pseudodoxia Epidemica," are also discussed.