252 PROFESSOR OWEN ch. viii. 



tention to the concluding generalisation in my 

 twelfth lecture, and to that on the " Metamor- 

 phoses of Insects," where will be found, I believe, 

 the first enunciation of the true law of the ana- 

 logies manifested by the embryos of animals in 

 their progress to their destined maturity. I will 

 not prolong this letter by any further remarks that 

 have arisen from the perusal of your work.' 



On January 30, 1845, Whewell wrote to Owen 

 inquiring if he had seen ' a book called " Vestiges 

 of Creation," for I am told it is much talked of in 

 London.' He asks Owen's opinion of the doc- 

 trines therein set forth, and especially of the state- 

 ment ' that animals in general may be arranged 

 in a series proceeding from less to more perfect, 

 in such a way that the more perfect in their fcetal 

 condition pass through the successive stages of 

 the less perfect, the characters being taken from 

 the vital centres, the brain or the heart, and the 

 more perfect being the more complex.' Whewell 

 cannot ' imagine ' that Owen ' can assent to any 

 part of this scheme,' and wishes to know his 

 opinion as to ' what parts of it are most palpably 

 false in physiology.' He proceeds: 'The first 

 proposition ' about the fcetal stages ' we have 

 heard a great deal of lately. Who is the main 

 promulgator of it, and how far do you believe it ? ' 



In reply Owen wrote, February 3, 1845 : 

 ' Animals in general cannot be arranged in a 

 series proceeding from less to more perfect in any 



