356 PROFESSOR OWEN ch. xi. 



vital importance were visibly staggered by this 

 plausible attempt to make a show of doing some- 

 thing and of making improvements, when the 

 only right course is to improve the whole thing 

 away. R. sat there boiling with indignation, till 

 his turn came to give his opinion, and then he 

 gave forth his protest against this new proposal 

 in unmistakable language. This set the Commis- 

 sioners wavering back again. He left them un- 

 decided.' 



' March 5. — This time R. returned from the 

 Smithfield Commission with the hope that things 

 were going right at last. It is evident that his 

 last speech has produced a stronger reaction than 

 he expected. It seems an obvious piece of stu- 

 pidity to meet a reform by a proposal to perpetuate 

 and increase the nuisance at an enormous outlay 

 of money.' 



Owen's course of Hunterian Lectures this year 

 was ' On the Generation and Development of 

 Vertebrate Animals, with Prefatory Remarks on 

 Vertebrae.' He notes in his diary that Hallam 

 was a constant attendant at these lectures, and he 

 also adds : ' I could give the Bishop of Oxford a 

 certificate for most regular attendance.' 



Owen's recreations during this course of 

 lectures were visits to the theatre and the Zoo- 

 logical Gardens. He went twice to see Parodi 

 as Medea, and notes a piece of by-play which 

 was not much to that lady's credit. ' In the bridal 



