The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1878-08-17 00:00:00

PROFESSOR OWEN AT THE BRITISH
MUSEUM.

The following is an extract from the article "Celebrities
at Home," in this week's II arid :

"The Superintendent of the Natural History De-
partment lives in a snug room near the skeletons of
the great elephant and the giant armadillo, and is as
thoroughly at home there as at his dwelling by the
Sheen Gate of Richmond Park. At the Museum he
is in the midst of his work, hearty, rosy, and full of
good-humour, despite the seventy-four summers
which have mellowed, instead of acidulating, this
genial man of science. Around and in front of
him are pyramids of books, and innumerable odds
and ends of skulls, and the grim jawbones that
he is so fond of reading and deciphering—build•
ing up an animal from one of his back teeth.
The skulls of a couple of polar bears grin over
the fireplace, and near it is posted the armchair in
which sits the Professor, robed in a suit of brown
woollen, topped by a well-worn black velvet cap
pulled down over his capacious forehead. The gold-
rimmed eyeglasses are cast aside for a pair of substan-
tial spectacles; for the great paleontologist is at work
this morning on some choice marsupials, comparing the
dental peculiarities of an Australian fossil Kangaroo
with those of a species still extant in New Guinea, and
considering the value of the evidence before him in
establishing the former existence of a Papuan con-
tinent. Probably no man more thoroughly enjoys a
life devoted to scientific pursuits, to the entire exclu-
sion of the rough-and-tumble element of the busy
noisy world.
" ' Never for one instant,' exclaims the Professor,
still firmly grasping the Australian fossil,—` never for
one instant have I regretted leaving the regular
practice of my profession for the calm of scien-
tific life. It is probable that if I had clung to
surgery I should have fared well enough—perhaps
have made a large fortune, and been a baronet,
by this time; but consider the cost. SUCCOBB
in my profession signifies incessant work, in-
creasing work, and, I admit, good pay; but is
this any compensation for the abandonment of all
one's favourite pursuits? I think not. Perhaps also
purely scientific men are necessary. They have
certainly done • much to raise medicine from an
empirical to a scientific' profession—to get rid of the
old rule of thumb, and teach the reason why. lam
old enough to recollect the time when medical men
judged almost entirely by symptoms, and were fre-
quently deceived by them. Since then medicine has
made an immense advance towards the dignity of a
science, with results the value of which to mankind is
hardly calculable.'

"For half a century Professor Owen has been
working in the 'front rank of science, and it would re-
9nire many pages to give an idea of the scope of his
investigations and achievements. Taking up com-
parative anatomy and paleontology where Cuvier
left them, his industrious life forms, as it were, a
bridge between the older world of science and the
new. When he began t) decipher the records of
animal life inscribed upon our globe, the charming
works which have invested geological study with all
the charm of romance were unwritten. To the great
world the language of science was unintelligible. Since
that time we have been indulged with theories in plenty.
The famous hypothesis of Lamarck has appeared in
ever-chanFing forms, speculation haring shifted from
time to time to accommodate itself with facts; but
through all the storm of controversy one patient student
has held steadily aloof from hasty guesses and sweep-
ing generalisations, confining himself to a severely
scientific method, and the application of that method
to well-ascertained facts. That luminous exposition
and eloquent description may make the most abtrusive
of subjects interesting, he has proved abundantly in
his lectures; but his calm spirit of thorough investi-
gation—of seeking for truth not to support a theory,
but for truth's sake alone—can only be appreciated by
a study of his more serious works.

"Professor Owen is hardly more refered as a philo-
sopher than loved as a man. Endowed with a buoy-
ant temperament, his never-failing good-humour and
genial spirtt have made him the friend of those whose
study has been rather living man than fossil mam-
malia. In pleasant Sheen Lodge men of letters have
ever been as welcome as men of science, and the cosy
room in which his predecessor entertained Sir Walter
Scott has echoed the laughter of Dickens and the
quiet chuckle of Thackeray. 'I am sorry,' Professor
Owen tells us,' that I have no more claret of Thack-
eray's particular bin left. He was, as you know, an
accomplished gourmet, loving good claret as the choicest
of delicacies. Once, to please him, I obtained
some of the best through the kindness of a some-
time fellow-student at the Jardin des Plantes,
whose parents were wine-growers in the Gironde, and
whose friendship outlasted our studies under Cuvier.
Nothing gave me greater pleasure than to watch
'rhackeray's thorough enjoyment of the magnificent
wine my friend obtained for me. He insisted on its
being treated with the reverence due to its exalted
rank. He loved to observe the bottle placed within
moderate range of the fire, and to note that the corks
were drawn at the proper interval before the wine was
put upon the table. And then the expression of his
face at the second glass! Such thorough appreciation,
such complete satisfaction I It was a greater pleasure
to see him drink his favourite claret than to taste it
myself.'

"Far from self-indulgent, Professor Owen yet
regards dinner as the last great event of the day.
Anxious, as his life testifies, to get as much work out
of himself as possible, he believes that this result is
beet obtained by confining working hours to the day-
light. Hale and hearty at his advanced age, he attri-
butes much of his vigour to persistent abstinence from
the 'midnight oil.' A stiff day's work, broken by no
heavier luncheon than a biscuit and a glass of claret-
and-water, is closed by dinner and early bed. In the
morning he is awake and abroad, a diligent disciple of
Isaac Walton. Rod in hand he may be seen making
for the water-side--not in quest of strange fishes, but
of a heavy basket—not in the spirit of an ichthyologist,
but of a sportsman."

Some good fortuues have already been made in
Cyprus. Tnose who heard from the Ottoman side, of the
prospective COMIOII of the island, ought iand at 17s. ed. and
are now selling it at £7O The British Adminiatrator has
now put an end to further transfer* of land.