William Henry Flower

“ In 1856, when Owen had reached the zenith of his fame, and was recognised throughout Europe as the first anatomist of his day, a change came over his career. Difficulties with the governing body of the College of Surgeons, arising from his impatience at being required to perform what he considered the lower administrative duties of his office, caused him readily to take advantage of an offer from the trustees of the British Museum to undertake a newly created post, that of superintendent of the natural history departments of the museum. ”

“ Meanwhile, in April 1836, he had been made first Hunterian professor of comparative anatomy and physiology at the Royal College of Surgeons, with the obligation to deliver twenty-four annual lectures illustrative of the Hunterian collections; and this duty he fulfilled regularly down to his retirement from the college in 1856. He was always more widely known by the title of ‘Professor Owen’ than by the knightly addition of his later years.
Owen's scientific reputation grew rapidly. ”

“ He attacked it with acerbity in an anonymous article on Darwin's ‘Origin of Species’ in the ‘Edinburgh Review’ for April 1860; and he was believed by Darwin to have inspired the Bishop of Oxford's hostile notice of that book in the ‘Quarterly Review’ of the same date. Owen's strong opposition to Darwin's doctrine caused him, though quite erroneously, to be looked upon by those outside the world of science as a supporter of the old-fashioned and then more ‘orthodox’ view of special creation. ”

“ From Clift Owen imbibed an enthusiastic reverence for his great master, John Hunter, which was continually augmented by closer study of his works. In 1830 Owen made Cuvier's acquaintance at the Hunterian Museum, and in the following year, in response to the great naturalist's invitation, he visited Paris, where he attended the lectures of Cuvier and Geoffroy St. Hilaire, and worked in the dissecting rooms and public galleries of the Jardin des Plantes. ”

“ Though the separation of the monotremes and marsupials from all the others as a distinct group (Lyencephala) is capable of vindication, the three other sub-classes, Lissencephala, Gyrencephala, and Archencephala, grade so imperceptibly into each other that their distinction as sub-classes cannot be maintained. The proposed definition of the distinguishing characters of the brain of man (Archencephala) from that of other mammals gave rise to a somewhat acute controversy, the echoes of which reached beyond the realms of purely scientific literature. ”

“ Much controversy arose as to the best principle of museum organisation. Owen adhered to the old view of a public exhibition on a very extensive scale, while the greater number of naturalists of the time preferred the system of dividing the collections into a comparatively limited public exhibition, the bulk of the specimens being kept in a manner accessible only to the researches of advanced students. ”

“ Though in his general intercourse with others usually possessed of much of the ceremonial courtesy of the old school, and when in congenial society a delightful companion, owing to his unfailing flow of anecdote, considerable sense of humour, and strongly developed faculty of imagination, he was not only an extremely adroit controversialist, but no man could say harder things of an adversary or rival. ”

“ In 1866 were published the first and second volumes, and in 1868 the third volume, of Owen's great book on the ‘Anatomy and Physiology of the Vertebrates.’ This is the most encyclopædic work on the subject accomplished by any one man since Cuvier's ‘Leçons d'Anatomie Comparée,’ and contains an immense mass of information, mainly based upon original observations and dissections. ”

“ Unfortunately, he grew so addicted to acrimonious controversy that many who followed kindred pursuits held somewhat aloof from him, and in later life his position among scientific men was one of comparative isolation. ”

“ It was believed that if they were grouped together and placed under a strong administrator, who should be able to exercise influence in advocating their claims to consideration, and who should be responsible for their internal working, their position in the establishment would be improved. Owen, however, encountered the difficulties which are nearly always experienced by an outsider suddenly imported into the midst of an existing establishment without any well-defined functions. ”

“ To this period of his life belong the courses of Hunterian lectures, given annually at the College of Surgeons, each year on a fresh subject, and each year the means of bringing before the world new and original discoveries which attracted, even fascinated, large audiences, and did much to foster an interest in the science among cultivated people of various classes and professions. ”

“ Although Owen's method of double publication may have made his memoirs more accessible to specialists working at particular subjects, it has caused much confusion in determining the real dates of his discoveries and of their publication. For scientific purposes the original memoirs should always be consulted. ”

“ The close study of the bones and teeth of existing animals was of extreme importance to him in his long continued and laborious researches into fossil forms; and, following in the footsteps of Cuvier, he fully appreciated and deeply profited by the study of the living in elucidating the dead, and vice versa. ”

“ This work, which has been taken as a model for many other subsequently published catalogues, contains a minute description of nearly four thousand preparations, including, besides those of Hunter, many added by Owen himself. The labour involved in producing it was greatly increased by the circumstance that the origin of a large number of Hunter's specimens had not been preserved, and even the species of the animals from which they were derived had to be discovered by tedious researches among old documents, or by comparison with fresh dissections. ”

“ He returned to the question in reference to the arrangement of the new National Museum, and, although no longer advocating so complete an incorporation of the two series, apparently in consideration of the interests of the division into ‘departments’ which he found in existence there, he says: ‘The department of zoology in such a museum should be so located as to afford the easiest transit from the specimens of existing to those of extinct animals. ”

“ These were adorned in every case with a profusion of admirable illustrations, drawn as often as possible of the full size of nature. His contributions to the publications of the Palæontographical Society, mainly upon the extinct reptiles of the British Isles, fill more than a thousand pages, and are illustrated by nearly three hundred plates. ”

“ He visited Sir Robert Peel at Drayton Manor, and discussed questions of museum organisation with him, propounding a plan for uniting the collection of fossil bones in the British Museum with the specimens of recent comparative anatomy in the College of Surgeons (1846) . Among men of kindred pursuits, Buckland, Sedgwick, Broderip, Murchison, Sir Philip Egerton, and Lord Enniskillen were at this time his most intimate associates. In 1845 he was elected into the select body of representative men called ‘The Club,’ founded by Dr. ”

“ London, 4to, 1877–8. ‘Memoirs on the Extinct Wingless Birds of New Zealand, with an Appendix on those of England, Australia, Newfoundland, Mauritius, and Rodriguez,’ 2 vols. London, 4to, 1879. ‘Experimental Physiology; its Benefits to Mankind,’ London, 8vo, 1882. ‘Aspects of the Body in Vertebrates and Invertebrates,’ London, 8vo, 1883. A complete list of Owen's contributions to scientific journals; Remarks, Descriptions, Notes, Observations, Reviews, Reports, Catalogues, and Appendices is given in ‘The Life, by his Grandson’ (1894, ii. 333–86) . ”