Referee's report by Percy Faraday Frankland, on a paper 'A study of the process of nitrification with reference to the purification of sewage' by Harriet Chick

Description

Sectional Committee: Botany

Recommended for publication in Proceedings. The volume of the paper is altogether out of proportion to the novelty and importance of the matter it contains and the paper should be greatly curtailed. The isolation of the nitrifying organisms from sewage filters is worth putting on record but quite briefly, as it was obvious that they must be present and there is no novelty in the mode of isolation employed. A much more detailed and extended investigation of the supposed symbiosis referred to on pages 65 and 66 is called for. The sewage purification experiments contain little or nothing that is new. The chemical analysis of the sewage before and after purification are very incomplete although the tables in which the results are set forth occupy a great deal of space. It is to be regretted that the author has not employed the particular permanganate process for determining organic matter which has been commonly used in tens of thousands of analyses of sewage and effluents. The illustrations are unnecessarily numerous and elaborate. A single small figure would be quite sufficient as the construction of the apparatus is quite obvious from the description.

Thee paper undoubtedly records a large amount of careful and laborious work but the positive results obtained are not such as to warrant so lengthy a publication. The paper should be recast in a shorter, more concise, and if possible more effective form.

[Published in Proceedings of the Royal Society B, 1906].

Endorsed on verso as received 8 June 1905.

Reference number

RR/16/284

Earliest possible date

06 June 1905

Physical description

Standardised report (type C)

Page extent

4 pages

Format

Manuscript