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The Royal Society: Science in the Making

Letter from William Crawford Williamson, to John William Strutt, 3rd Baron Rayleigh, regarding a paper 'On the organisation of the fossil plants of the coal-measures.—Part XVI' by William Crawford Williamson

Reference number: RR/10/315

Date: 27 November 1889

Description

It is not the first time a comment has been made about needless repetition of figures. Circumstance has made him the 'creator of a science', based on limited and fragmentary specimens, but has recently accessed a much larger number of specimens, and wishes to cover all morphologies. Has the material ready for two further memoirs in the series, but if the Royal Society wishes to stop printing the series it only has to say so. 'Other publishing agencies are begging for them', but would rather the series was completed in full in the Philosophical Transactions. The process of drawing the details in the illustrations precludes the use of reference letters. Refers to his 'old friend' Joseph Dalton Hooker, with whom he has discussed morphology.

Subject: Botany, Geology, Palaeontology

[Published in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, 1889]

Reference number
RR/10/315
Earliest possible date
27 November 1889
Physical description
Letter on paper
Page extent
8 pages
Format
Manuscript

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Citation

Letter from William Crawford Williamson, to John William Strutt, 3rd Baron Rayleigh, regarding a paper 'On the organisation of the fossil plants of the coal-measures.—Part XVI' by William Crawford Williamson, 27 November 1889, RR/10/315, The Royal Society Archives, London, https://makingscience.royalsociety.org/items/rr_10_315/letter-from-william-crawford-williamson-to-john-william-strutt-3rd-baron-rayleigh-regarding-a-paper-on-the-organisation-of-the-fossil-plants-of-the-coal-measurespart-xvi-by-william-crawford-williamson, accessed on 19 April 2025

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  • Referee Reports

    This collection contains reports on scientific papers submitted for publication to the Royal Society. Started in 1832 when the system was formalised, it is a record of the origins of peer review publishing in practice.

    Dates: 1832 - 1954

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