ii2 PROFESSOR OWEN ch. iv. 



state raised, if the other state which is stronger 

 had not already taken possession of the mind, or 

 driven the other out ; ' and, having delivered this 

 proposition, he illustrates it by something which 

 once took place within himself when he went to 

 see Mrs. Siddons act. He entered the theatre 

 with the strong conviction that he should be very 

 much affected and weep copiously ; but he found 

 to his dismay that he had forgotten to bring a 

 handkerchief, and the misery and anxiety that 

 he was in, when he found he was without that 

 requisite for drying up the eyes, and the feeling 

 of horror lest he should cry under those circum- 

 stances, so stopped up every tear that he not only 

 did not cry, but actually could not do so. 



On December 12 Owen writes to his sister: 

 * I have just finished my edition of Hunter's MSS. ; 

 it will come out, January, in two vols. 8vo. I shall 

 also then bring out my " Memoir on the Mega- 

 therium," in 4to, with 27 large plates ! Messrs. 

 Black write to say that they have only 100 left of 

 " Palaeontology," and I am at work on a new edition. 

 I enclose a syllabus of my next and last course of 

 Fullerian Lectures. The matter of the Jermyn 

 Street lectures is not yet settled, but 1 have 

 spoken to Sir R. Murchison of my wish to give 

 them up.' 



On December 30 he writes again : ' On 

 Christmas Day I lunched with Lord John Russell, 

 and chatted awhile with him in his study at Pern- 



