266 Britain's Heritage of Science 



lectures, and these he continued to give for a period of 

 twenty years. 



Owing to the influence of the Prince Consort, the 

 British Court was, in Owen's time, more interested in 

 science than it has been since his death, and Owen became 

 of considerable influence in court and in society circles. 

 In 1845 he was elected a member of that exclusive body 

 " The Club," founded by Dr. Johnson. In 1852 the Queen 

 gave him the cottage called Sheen Lodge, in Richmond 

 Park, where he lived for forty years. 



There seems little doubt that in the middle of the last 

 century Owen was recognized throughout the world as the 

 first anatomist of his day; but his position at the College 

 of Surgeons was at this time becoming difficult. Friction 

 arose between him and the Governing Body, and in 1856 

 he readily accepted the offer made to him by the Trustees 

 of the British Museum to undertake the newly created post 

 of Superintendent of the Natural History Department in 

 the Museum. This post he held until 1884. He added 

 greatly to our knowledge of animal structure by his success- 

 ful dissection of many rare forms, such as the Pearly 

 Nautilus, Limulus, Lingula, Apteryx, and others, and, follow- 

 ing on the lines of Cuvier, he was particularly successful in 

 reconstructing extinct vertebrates. Another considerable 

 advance he made in science was his introduction of the 

 terms " homologous " and " analogous." 



The accommodation afforded by the Museum at Blooms- 

 bury for Natural History specimens was totally inadequate, 

 and as early as 1859 Owen submitted a report to the Trustees 

 setting forth his views as to the proper housing of the 

 National collections. After the usual delays attendant upon 

 all Government action, land was purchased at South 

 Kensington, on which ten years later the present buildings 

 rose. They were opened to the public in 1881. Owen failed, 

 however, to achieve many of his desires. A lecture theatre, 

 such as exists in the Metropolitan Museum of Natural 

 History in New York, is even now still lacking, and, he 

 adds, " no collection of zoological specimens can be regarded 

 as complete without a gallery of physical ethnology." This 

 also is still wanting. A third of his wishes, a gallery of 



