296 PALAEONTOLOGY. 



"to avoid any chance of interrupting the attention to his chain of reason- 

 ing of some who may be present, and may be much better qualified to 

 understand the subject than myself, to read the paper through without 

 comment. In a subseqiient Lecture I shall point out the statements 

 and conclusions in which Hunter had been anticipated by previous 

 writers. I shall next endeavour to show how far ulterior investigations 

 may have confirmed or confuted any of his propositions ; and lastly, I 

 shall give a general or summary view of the chief principles of geological 

 and palaeontological science which have been determined since Hunter 

 wrote on the subject. 



Lecture II. 



March 8th, 1855. 

 [The manuscript read on this day, in the Theatre of the Royal College 

 of Surgeons, not having been printed, as I had recommended and hoped, 

 with the concluding volume of the Catalogue of the Hunterian Fossils 

 published by the Council of the College in the course of the following 

 year, and three years having since elapsed, I concluded that the MS. 

 might not, in the judgment of the Council, have been deemed of suffi- 

 cient importance to be issued as a collegiate publication. I therefore 

 wrote, on the 25th of October, 1859, a respectful request to the President 

 and Council, to which the following answer was returned : — 



" Royal College of Surgeons, London, 

 ilth day of November, 1859. 

 " Sir, — In reply to your application to be allowed to have a copy 

 made of the Hunterian manuscript on geology for publication in a 

 volume you are preparing for the press, which will include a selection 

 from other Hunterian manuscripts copied by Mr. Clift from the originals 

 before they passed into the hands of Sir Everard Home, I am desired to 

 acquaint you that the question of the publication by this College of the 

 said paper, together with the other unpublished Hunterian manuscripts, 

 is under consideration, and that the Council does not consider it ad- 

 visable, pending such consideration, that the paper on geology should 

 be published in the manner you propose. 



" I am, Sir, your most obedient Servant, 



" Edmtjnd Belfottk, Secretary." 

 " Professor Owen, $c. $c." 



The manuscript in question was thereupon sent to the printers, and 

 was published in 4to, by the Council of the College, December 23rd, 

 1859. Reference will be made to this volume in the quotations cited 

 in the next Lecture. 1 



