Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 42.djvu/446

 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. On the other hand, the radical distinction between the two groups of Ungulates, the odd-toed and the even-toed, first indicated by Cuvier, when treating of the fossil forms, was thoroughly worked out by Owen through every portion of their organisation, and remains as a solid contribution to a rational system of classification.

The chapter called ‘General Conclusions’ at the end of the third volume is devoted to a summary of his views on the principal controverted biological questions of the day, especially in relation to the teaching of Darwin, just then coming into great prominence. Although from the peculiarly involved style of Owen's writing, especially upon these subjects, it is sometimes difficult to define his real opinions, it appears that before the publication of the ‘Origin of Species’ he had ‘been led to recognise species as exemplifying the continuous operation of natural law, or secondary cause, and that not only successively but progressively.’ Darwin's special doctrine of ‘natural selection,’ however, he never appreciated. 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. His most distinct utterance upon this subject is contained in the following paragraph:—‘So, being unable to accept the volitional hypothesis, or that of impulse from within, or the selective force exerted by outward circumstances, I deem an innate tendency to deviate from parental type, operating through periods of adequate duration, to be the most probable nature, or way of operation, of the secondary law, whereby species have been derived one from the other’ (op. cit. iii. 807). Owen's ambiguous attitude to the whole topic excited in Darwin as much resentment as was possible in a man of his magnanimous temper (see historical sketch prefixed to the sixth edition of Origin of Species, 1872, and The Life and Letters of Charles Darwin, 1887, vol. ii., in reference to the controversy at the British Association at Oxford in 1860).

Owen's career as a lecturer did not entirely cease with his connection with the College of Surgeons, as, by permission of the authorities of the Museum of Practical Geology in Jermyn Street, he gave several courses on the fossil remains of animals, open to the public, in the theatre of that institution; and he held in the years 1859, 1860, and 1861, in conjunction with his office at the British Museum, the Fullerian professorship of physiology in the Royal Institution. In 1858 he acted as president of the British Association which met at Leeds. His address largely dealt with the need of constructing on adequate lines a national museum of natural history and the desirability of a popular exposition of the secrets of science. On the revival of the annual lecture on Sir Robert Rede's foundation in the university of Cambridge, in 1859, he was appointed to give the first, and took for his subject the classification of the mammalia. He also occasionally lectured at the Royal Institution on Friday evenings, his last appearance there being on 26 April 1861, when he delivered the discourse ‘On the Scope and Appliances of a National Museum of Natural History.’ In April 1862 he gave four lectures on birds at the London Institution, and at later dates lectured at Bradford, Newcastle, and other provincial towns. As late as May 1879 he gave a discourse at the Royal Colonial Institute upon ‘the Extinct Animals of the British Colonies.’

Although Owen took scarcely any part in the details of the administration of the British Museum, one subject relating to that establishment long engaged his attention from his first connection with it. That the accommodation afforded by the rooms devoted to natural history in the museum at Bloomsbury was painfully inadequate was evident. Space must be obtained somewhere, even for the proper conservation and display of the existing collections, to say nothing of the vast additions that must be expected if the subject were to be represented in anything like the way in which it deserved to be in his eyes, and Owen in this respect had very large views. As early as February 1859 he submitted a strong report to the trustees, setting forth his views respecting a national museum of natural history, accompanied with a plan, which was forwarded to the treasury,