250 



misgiving in regard to a conclusion based on a single tooth or 

 bone than that which he arrived at after a careful study of 

 this specimen. Its smaller and less obvious features carried 

 conviction to him against the showing of the larger and more 

 catching ones. But although some naturalists for a time thought 

 he had mistaken the fore for the back part of the jaw, yet his 

 conclusion proved to be correct. His experience taught him that 

 the less obvious points, which require searching out, frequently, 

 when their full meaning has been grasped, guide to a right 



FIG. 92. Skeleton of Coryphodon liamatus. (Restored, after Marsh.) Length 



about 6 feet. 



interpretation of the whole. " It is as if truth were whispered," 

 he says, " rather than outspoken by Nature." 



The first additional evidence which Sir E. Owen obtained of 

 the true nature of this ancient mammal was furnished by a fossil 

 canine tooth brought up from a depth of a hundred and sixty feet 

 out of the Plastic Clay during the operation of sinking a well in 

 the neighbourhood of Camberwell, near London. This circum- 

 stance caused Sir K. Owen to remind his readers of the old 

 proverb, "Truth lies at the bottom of a well." It was nearly 

 three inches long, and evidently belonged to a large hoofed 

 mammal. With regard to the teeth, he remarked that their broad- 



