LI>'>'EAN SOCIETY OF LONDOIS'. Vv -^ ^J^/l j^ 



Department of Natural History in the British Mu^ 

 many years previously additional space for storing and e5t 

 the National Collections had been most urgently needed, an? 

 the want had been repeatedly and pressingly emphasized in tlie 

 annual reports of the several Keej^ers. Tbe new Chief applied 

 his whole force of influence and intellect to obtaiu a worthy 

 habitation for the treasures under his charge, the result — after 

 niauy struggles between politicians and departraentalists — being 

 the sanction to the necessary jiarliamentary grant in 1872, the 

 erection of the present range of buildings at South Kensington, 

 and the removnl of the Natural History Department from 

 Bloomsbury. AVithconsummate'euergy Owen superintended the 

 new arrangement of ^the collections, which were opened to the 

 public in the spring of 1881, and thus saw the accomplishment 

 of an undertaking of which alone any man might be more than 

 justly proud. 



He resigned his position as Director in 1883. Notwithstanding 

 his official duties, the period of 1856-80 was no less prolific in 

 papers and memoirs than the previous years had been. Amongst 

 these may be mentioned his large series of Monographs on 

 British Fossil Reptiles and on tlie Cetacea of the Eed Crag, 

 which appeared in the annual volumes of the Palaeontographical 

 Society, the memoir on the Fossil Eeptiles of South Africa, and 

 his Kede lecture ' On the Classification and Geographical Distri- 

 bution of the Mammalia,' and his ' Manual of Palaeontology.' 

 His papers published in the Proceedings of learned Societies are 

 more than 400 in number, and embrace subjects belonging to 

 nearly every class of the animal kingdom. 



He was elected a Fellow of the Koyal Society in 1831<, and in 

 1842 received the Eoyal Medal, and in 181G the Copley Medal. 

 In 1851 the King of Prussia conferred upon him the Ordre pour 

 le Me'rite, and in 1855 the Emperor of the French the Cross of 

 the Legion d'Honueur. In 1873 the Emperor of Brazil gave 

 him the Imperial Order of the Rose, and the Queen conferred 

 upon him the Order of the Bath, of which Order he was made 

 a Knight Commander in 1883 on his retirement from the post 

 of Superintendent of the Natural History Museum. In 1882 

 the King of Italy sent him the Order of St. Maurice and St. 

 Lazarus. The Universities of Oxford, Cambridge, and Dublin 

 conferred on him honorary degrees ; and his name occurs on 

 the lists of the honorary or corresponding members of most of 

 the Euroj)ean and American Societies. He was President of the 

 British Association in 1857 ; and he was elected President of the 

 Palaeontographical Society in 1877 in succession to Mr. Bower- 

 bank and held that post until his death. In 1859 he was elected 

 a Foreign Associate of the Institute of France in succession to 

 Robert Brown ; and Foreign Associate of the Paris Academy of 

 Medicine in 1874 in succession to Baron Liebig. He was 

 elected a Fellow of this Society in 1836 ; and on the Hundredth 

 Anniversary Meeting, on the founding of the Liuneau Medal, 



