374 PROFESSOR OWEN ch. XL 



densed to the utmost, and it looks enough for two 

 long articles in the " Quarterly." ' 



Lockhart had considerable correspondence 

 with Owen about this time, and in the course of 

 an amusing letter he mentions a curious fact re- 

 lated in the 'Life of Southey : ' 'In the last 

 chapters of Southey's Life,' writes Lockhart, * his 

 son says that after his father's mind failed, his hair, 

 previously almost snow-white, thickened, curled, 

 and became perceptibly darker. Now, tell me 

 if you recollect any other instance of this counter- 

 part to the not uncommon bleaching of the hair 

 under mental distress. For, if the rule be a 

 sound one, a little real affliction or idiotism 

 might be suggested to widows of Mayfair in lieu 

 of the Chinese infallible hair-dye warranted of no 

 purple tinge.' 



There was some question this year of Owen 

 succeeding to the post of Keeper of the Mine- 

 ralogical Department of the British Museum, ren- 

 dered vacant by the sudden death of Charles 

 Konig. 



On September i, 1851, Owen writes: 'Mr. 

 Dinkel has just called, and tells me that poor Mr. 

 Konig fell as he was ascending his own doorstep 

 and was found dead on Friday evening. He 

 was a kind and honest-hearted man.' The post 

 of Keeper of the Mineralogical Department of the 

 British Museum at that time included geology, 

 and the extract which follows from a letter sent 



