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Referee's report by Dukinfield Henry Scott, on a paper 'The Araucarieae, recent and extinct' by Albert Charles Seward and Sibille O Ford

Reference number: RR/16/381

Date: 02 December 1905

Description

Sectional Committee: Botany

The paper is of considerable value as a monograph of an important plant family but its suitability for Philosophical Transactions is open to some doubt. Discusses what he thinks are the most valuable parts of the paper. Seward's opinion on the fossil evidence is of great importance and, although his views of the phylogeny of the group are not, in Scott's opinion, convincing, it is highly desirable that they should be fully stated. Discusses two small errors with references to the relevant pages of the manuscript. The illustrations generally speaking are necessary to the paper and should be published if the paper is accepted for the Transactions. The statements of the authors are, for the most part, based on their own observations which are on the whole confirmatory of those of previous investigations. A general account such as this is a great help to other workers who would certainly wish to see it published, but it is not clear that a monograph of this nature can be said to mark a distinct step in the advancement of natural knowledge. Some new facts are brought forward but they are scarcely of sufficient importance to affect the general character of the paper. Thinks it would be a great misfortune if the paper were not to appear at all. If not appropriate for the Transactions it might appear as a book, subsidised as in other cases, from the funds of the Royal Society, or else it could be transferred to some other Society such as the Linnean. In the meantime the authors might be given the opportunity of publishing in the Proceedings, a statement of their views on the phylogeny of the group as given in the last two sections of the paper.

[Published in Philosophical Transactions A, 1905].

Endorsed on verso as received 4 December 1905.

Reference number
RR/16/381
Earliest possible date
02 December 1905
Physical description
Standardised form (type A) and note on paper
Page extent
3 pages
Format
Manuscript

Creator name

Dukinfield Henry Scott

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Citation

Dukinfield Henry Scott, Referee's report by Dukinfield Henry Scott, on a paper 'The Araucarieae, recent and extinct' by Albert Charles Seward and Sibille O Ford, 02 December 1905, RR/16/381, The Royal Society Archives, London, https://makingscience.royalsociety.org/items/rr_16_381/referees-report-by-dukinfield-henry-scott-on-a-paper-the-araucarieae-recent-and-extinct-by-albert-charles-seward-and-sibille-o-ford, accessed on 04 December 2024

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    Date: 1832-1954

    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.

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