1848-49 ARCHETYPE OF THE SKELETON 309 



CHAPTER X 



1848-49 



' The Archetype and Homologies of the Vertebrate Skeleton,' 1848 

 — The Cuming Shell Collection — The Great Sea-serpent — 

 Emerson and Guizot — Literary Work and Lectures — Death of 

 Mr. and Mrs. Clift, 1849 — Prince Charles Lucien Bonaparte — 

 Member of the Commission on Smithfield Market. 



In January 1848 a correspondent wrote to Owen 

 asking permission to publish his ' Archetype of 

 the Skeleton.' The following reply is interesting 

 as containing Owen's views on the origin of 

 species : — 



' As I do not know the secondary cause by 

 which it may have pleased the Creator to intro- 

 duce organised species into this planet, I have 

 never expressed orally or in print an opinion on 

 the subject. Whenever in the course of special 

 investigations I have met with phenomena bearing 

 upon the hypothetical secondary cause to which 

 you allude, I have pointed out such bearing 

 incidentally ; but the hypothesis itself, " transmu- 

 tation of specific characters," which is always 

 coupled with the idea of a specific direction — viz. 

 upwards — has not been the subject of any express 



