1855-56 SUPERINTENDENT AT BRITISH MUSEUM 13 



application of science to obtain graphic records of 

 a campaign.' 



Before the close of the year 1855 Owen 

 issued his ' Catalogue of the Fossil Remains in 

 the Hunterian Museum,' zj.to, but he never com- 

 pleted it ; for, to use his own words, ' the 

 " Catalogue of the Fossils of the Hunterian 

 Museum " passed out of my responsibility and 

 care when I accepted the office of Superintendent 

 of the Natural History Department of the British 

 Museum.' 2 This office was generally understood 

 to have been created expressly for Owen. There 

 is no doubt that he owed his appointment, to a 

 great extent, to Lord Macaulay, with whom he 

 had as yet but the barest acquaintance ; and with 

 reference to this, Macaulay's letter and the ex- 

 planations accompanying it may be quoted from 

 his ' Life,' by his nephew, Sir George Trevelyan. 

 He says : — 



' Long after Macaulay had abandoned all 

 other public business he continued to occupy 

 himself in the administration of the British 

 Museum. In February 1856 he wrote to Lord 

 Lansdowne with the view of securing that old 

 friend's potent influence in favour of an arrange- 

 ment by which Professor Owen might be placed 

 in a position worthy of his reputation and of his 

 services. The circumstance which gave rise to 



2 The completion of the concluding volume was entrusted to 

 Professor John Morris. 



