n6 PROFESSOR OWEN ch. iv. 



made a short speech, I took the opportunity of 

 saying a word on the subject of such valuable 

 acquisitions to science not having proper accom- 

 modation, &c, at the Museum.' 



' On March 18,' Mrs. Owen writes in her diary, 

 ' R. and I drove to the Royal Institution, to hear* 

 another of M. Du Chaillu's lectures. A tremendous 

 crowd filled the theatre, Sir Roderick Murchison 

 in the chair. M. Du Chaillu gave a very quaint, 

 clear, and interesting account of his travels in 

 Africa, and his meeting with the gorillas, a row 

 of which hideous creatures was overhead : some: 

 skulls were before the lecturer, who traced his pro- 

 gress on a large map as the lecture proceeded.' 



A few days after this lecture Owen received 

 the following letter from M. Du Chaillu : — 



129 Mount Street : March 22, 1861. 



1 My dear Sir, — Allow me to present you with 

 a gorilla skin. . . . When I prepared it in Africa 

 it was with the intention that I should present it 

 to you myself, and on this account 1 did not send 

 it to you from America. 



1 I think that it is quite time that you should 

 put your foot on the skin of an animal the anato- 

 mical character of which you have so thoroughly 

 described in several of the memoirs you have 

 published, and the reading of which has delighted 

 me so much. 



1 Yours very truly, 



' P. B. Du Chaillu.' 



