The Life of Richard Owen (2-Volume Set) With the Scientific Portions Revised by C. Davies Sherborn and an Essay on Owen's Position in Anatomical Science by the Right Hon. T. H. Huxley, F.R.S.

About this book

A reprint of a classical work in the Cambridge Library Collection.

Richard Owen, F.R.S. (1804-92) was a controversial and influential palaeontologist and anatomist. Originally from Lancaster, he studied medicine at the University of Edinburgh and at London's St Bartholomew's Hospital. He grew interested in anatomical research and, after qualifying as a surgeon, became assistant conservator in the museum of the Royal College of Surgeons, and then superintendent of natural history in the British Museum. He became an authority on comparative anatomy and palaeontology, coining the term 'dinosaur' and founding the Natural History Museum. He was also a fierce critic of Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection, and engaged in a long and bitter argument with Thomas Huxley, known as 'Darwin's bulldog' for his belligerent support of the theory. Published in 1894, this two-volume biography of Owen was written by his grandson and draws on Owen's diaries and a wealth of correspondence.

Contents

Volume 1
Preface

1. 1804–24. Parentage
2. 1824–33. Edinburgh University
3. 1833–6. Eton in 1833
4. 1837–8. Hunterian Professor and Professor of Anatomy and Physiology in the College of Surgeons, 1837
5. 1839–40. Foundation of the Microscopical Society
6. 1841–2. Hunterian Lectures
7. 1843–4. Further evidence of the existence of the 'Dinoris'
8. Owen's opinion of the 'Vestiges of Creation'
9. 1846–7. Owen's proposal of a national collection of fossil and recent comparative anatomy
10. 1848–9. 'The Archetype and Homologies of the Vertebrate Skeleton', 1848
11. 1850–1. The Megatherium
12. 1852–3. Delight in country life

Volume 2
1. 1855–6. The Phoenix
2. 1856–81. Owen's scheme for a Natural History Museum
3. Lecturer on palaeontology
4. 1860–1. Natural history lectures at Buckingham Palace
5. 1862–4. Jenny Lind
6. 1865–8. Social life
7. 1869–71. First visit to Egypt, 1869
8. 1872–82. Third visit to Egypt, 1873
9. 1883–92. 'Notes on birds in my garden'
Owen's position in the history of anatomical science T. H. Huxley

Bibliography
List of Honorary Distinctions
Index

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