SIR RICHARD OWEN 239 



particular views which he held will be hereafter fortified by the 

 experience of the ages which come after us ; but of this thing I 

 am perfectly certain, that the present course of things has resulted 

 from the feeling of the smaller men who have followed him that 

 they are incompetent to bend the bow of Ulysses, and in con- 

 sequence many of them are seeking their salvation in mere 

 speculation." 



A further quotation from the speech, summarizing 

 Darwin's character and methods, has elsewhere been 

 given {cf. p. 165). 



The literary work for 1894 includes, in addition to the 

 "Prolegomena" to the reprint of the Romanes Lecture 

 (cf. p. 234), the Prefaces to Vols. VI-IX of the Collected 

 Essays, respectively entitled — Hume, with Helps to the Study 

 of Berkeley ; Matis Place in Nature ; Discourses, Biological 

 and Geological; and Evolution and Ethics, and other Essays. 



It is of incidental interest to learn that, as might have 

 been expected in so brilliant a writer, his admiration of 

 German scientists does not extend to their average style. 

 For in a letter to Mr. Thomas Common (dated March 23, 

 1894) he says : — 



" As men of research in positive science they are magnificently 

 laborious and accurate. But most of them have no notion of 

 style, and seem to compose their books with a pitchfork " 

 (Life, ii, p. 360). 



He also accomplished the difficult and delicate task of 

 writing, at the request of the author, a chapter on 

 " Owen's Position in Anatomical Science," in the Life of 

 Sir Richard Owen, by his grandson, the Rev. Richard 

 Owen (Sci. Mem., iv, xxxviii, p. 658). 



This does full justice to the many and valuable con- 

 tributions to science made by Owen, more particularly in 

 comparative anatomy and palaeontology : — 



" It is a splendid record ; enough, and more than enough, to 



