1857-59 OWEN'S OPINION 93 



fest to the editor, as well as to myself, that Pro- 

 fessor Owen claimed to have promulgated the 

 theory of natural selection before I had done so ; 

 and I expressed my surprise and satisfaction at 

 this announcement ; but as far as it is possible to 

 understand certain recently published passages, 5 

 I have either partially or wholly again fallen into 

 error. It is consolatory to me that others find 

 Professor Owen's controversial writings as difficult 

 to understand and to reconcile with each other as I 

 do. As far as the mere enunciation of the prin- 

 ciple of natural selection is concerned, it is quite 

 immaterial whether or not Professor Owen pre- 

 ceded me, for both of us, as shown in this histo- 

 rical sketch, were long ago preceded by Dr. Wells 

 and Mr. Matthews.' 



' Owen could never be induced to follow,' 

 writes Mr. Smith Woodward, in ' Natural Science' 

 (February 1893), ' tne new school of anatomy 

 and zoology that arose with the epoch-making 

 researches of Von Baer and Rathke in embryo- 

 logy. . . . 



* This marked disregard of embryology as the 

 essential adjunct, even if not the key, of compara- 

 tive anatomy, is all the more surprising, since so 

 large a proportion of Owen's researches on verte- 

 brate animals were devoted to the fossil remains 

 of past ages. If any phase of biological research 

 can benefit by embryology, that is assuredly 



5 Anat. of Vert., vol. iii. p. 798. 



