1867.] Mr. Jukes and the Geological Society. 331 



{)rinciple regulating the decisions of that body in regard to the pub- 

 ication of papers in the Society's journal. 



We must begin by observing that whatever may have been the 

 practice of the council in former days, when it required some 

 vigilance to ensure that the papers should treat strictly of questions 

 of fact — such being the object for which the Society was originally 

 founded — does not now concern us; and our author's smart ob- 

 servations on the subject are altogether irrelevant, although it is 

 perfectly possible that Mr. Warburton and others may have been at 

 times unreasonably autocratic. 



It will be as well if we now quote from Mr. Jukes, for the in- 

 formation of our readers, what takes place after a paper has been 

 read before the Society : — 



" The paper is, at the next meeting of the council, referred to 

 some Fellow of the Society, who is supposed to have special know- 

 ledge of the subjects treated of, and he -is requested to answer a 

 printed list of questions which are sent with it. These questions, 

 as well as I can recollect them, inquire whether there is anything 

 personally offensive in the paper; whether there is anything 

 superfluous, or absurd, or manifestly contrary to the principles of 

 the science in it ; whether it should be published in extenso or only 

 in abstract; whether it should be accompanied with the illustra- 

 tions, or whether any or all of the latter can be dispensed with ; 

 and generally, in fact, what is to be done with the paper. 



"If the referee have the requisite knowledge, and acts with 

 judgment and impartiality, and takes sufficient trouble to master 

 the paper, of course the system would act in practice as well as it 

 was meant to do theoretically." 



Mr. Jukes further illustrates his position as follows : — 

 " I have two or three times acted as referee, and the plan I 

 adopted was to treat it very much as a matter of form, just to look 

 over the paper to see if there was anything in it personally offensive 

 or disrespectful to any one ; any obvious lapsus calami which the 

 author would wish to have his attention called to ; or anything 

 manifestly childish, such as attempts to reconcile geology with the 

 Mosaic cosmogony; and, if not, to recommend that it be printed as 

 a matter of course." 



According to these extracts the Society undertakes to print in 

 their journal every paper accepted for reading, if it does not contain, 

 in the opinion of the referee and the council, anything personally 

 offensive, or superfluous, or absurd, or manifestly contrary to the 

 principles of the science. If this be true Mr. Jukes has a right to 

 complain, for it would seem, from the intrinsic evidence presented by 

 his paper, that its rejection must rest on other grounds than these. 



There is, however, a common saying that one tale is always 

 good until another is told, and Mr. Jukes's tale would cer- 



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