126 PROFESSOR OWEN ch. iv. 



ten minutes and retired to the committee-room, 

 and then returned and gave a viva voce account of 

 the matter about an hour and a half long. Mrs. 

 Buckland and lots of ladies, mostly Quakeresses, 

 were there, and I modified the reproductive part of 

 the history as delicately as possible. The Stones- 

 held opossum and Dr. Buckland were not for- 

 gotten.' He then relates how he visited Ravens- 

 worth, where they breakfasted at three. ' After 

 breakfast dancing commenced, which was sus- 

 tained both by the fair and the philosophers in full 

 vigour till six, when we drove off' [to Durham to 

 Dr. Gilly's]. ' Dr. Buckland marked out my tour, 

 and we agreed to meet at Freiburg, where the 

 German naturalists assemble.' Passing next to 

 York, Owen visited the Minster and the Museum, 

 and at 7 p.m. the same day he took the mail to 

 Hull. The rest of the letter is occupied with 

 an account of his sea-passage, which apparently 

 caused him little if any discomfort, and he is left 

 awaiting at Rotterdam the arrival of his friend 

 Cooper. 



His next communication to his wife is dated 

 Plaats Royaal, Leyden, September 4, 1838, and 

 runs as follows : — 



' I cannot doubt but that you will already have 

 received the notice of my safe arrival at Rotter- 

 dam, which I sent in the only cross letter I ever 

 wrote, so far as I remember, in my life ; but 

 learning that the post for London leaves Leyden 



