FOREWORD 15 



has to be drawn from the experiments which is 

 obnoxious to some influential members of this So- 

 ciety " for the promotion of Natural Knowledge." 



The two referees to whom the paper was handed, 

 it may be safely assumed, whatever their general 

 qualifications, had never themselves done any 

 similar work, but they did not in any way com- 

 municate with me; and, although the paper was 

 subsequently submitted to a joint committee, it is 

 perfectly clear that the members round that table, 

 as a committee, could obtain no adequate know- 

 ledge of the contents of the paper. They had to 

 be influenced in the main by the report of the two 

 referees. The Council, sitting as a committee of 

 papers, would be in much the same condition, and, 

 unless some very strong influence was interposed, 

 would, in the ordinary course of things, ratify the 

 previous decision, depending upon the report of 

 two referees by whom alone the paper would have 

 been read as it actually did in this case. 



Some such process is doubtless necessary for the 

 elimination of unfit contributions, but it is one' 

 which surely ought to be very jealously guarded 

 in the case of a paper from a senior Fellow who 

 was known to have devoted much time and labour 

 to the subject of his investigation and more es- 



