The Ten Holy Commandments of True Palaeobotany

Deep in the dusty crypts of libraries filled with long-forgotten books, a miraculous find has been made. Folded within the pages, an old parchment was found listing the 10 Holy Commandments of True Palaeobotany.


From the Book of the Faithful, the True Searchers of palaeobotanical wisdom

I am the Lord thy Supervisor, the only and true expert on palaeobotany

1. Thou shalt have no experts before me

2. Thou shalt not see what I don’t see, haven’t seen, or published differently

3. Thou shalt put the name of the Lord thy God on each and every script you write, from now till the end of days

4. Remember who took you in, and gave you access to the Holy Artefacts called Fossils

5. Honour the beliefs I taught you, and defend them against new scientific evidence

6. Thou shalt not use anything but parsimony

7. Thou shalt never listen, or speak, to those that are not faithful to Thy Lord

8. Thou shalt try to publish each new fossil find at least twice

9. Thou shalt bear false witness against others, when their heretic scripts are send to you by the Lords of the Forest of Review (may they do Our bidding till the end of days).

10. Thou shalt never leave thy Lord’s Ivory Tower of True Wisdom to covet the wisdom of others, in particular not those that waste their time studying living objects.

As in the case of all religion, you have to decide yourself how much to belief (of this, and in general 😉 )

PS There may be similar commandments in other fields, so just use the anonymous comment option for suggestions.