1857-59 FULLERIAN PROFESSOR 69 



sorship of Physiology at the Royal Institution of 

 Great Britain. As the course of lectures was to 

 begin in January 1858, the latter part of 1857 was 

 spent in preparing materials for these lectures, 

 the subject of which was ' Fossil Mammals.' 

 The course lasted from January 25 to April 12, 

 1858. As lecturer to the Royal School of Mines, 

 Jermyn Street, he gave a course on Fossil Birds, 

 the first lecture being delivered on March 8. 



Besides these two courses in the spring of 

 this year, he also lectured at the South Kensing- 

 ton Museum on the ' Animal Kingdom and its 

 Economic Use.' 



One of Owen's chief discoveries was made this 

 year — the identification of the fossil skull known 

 as Cyamodus (Placodus) laticeps as a reptile in- 

 stead of a fish. Figures of the skull are here 

 given, and show the great crushing teeth on the 

 palate. 



In a letter to one of his sisters he refers to this 

 year's course of lectures at Jermyn Street. ' When 

 they are over,' he says, ' I shall have to buckle-to 

 with my "Address to the British Association." 

 I look forward confidently to that being the last 

 public post or position the duties of which I can- 

 not well decline, and I hope some years of com- 

 parative ease may be spared to me. The pencil- 

 sketches on this page are by Admiral Moorsom, 

 to whom I have been expounding the action of 

 fishes' tails in reference to improvements in the 



