126 PROFESSOR OWEN ch. iv. 



we had but the inclination to examine the ope- 

 rations of Nature, are we placed in a museum. 

 Look at Gilbert White, who, while living in the 

 little village of Selborne, devoted his intellect to 

 the common objects of the country around him, 

 and who has given us, from the results he then 

 achieved, a book which will probably remain so 

 long as the English tongue is spoken. 



' There was also Gideon Mantell, who, when 

 practising in a small obscure town in the provinces, 

 found leisure time to look into the marvels of 

 the country nround him, and, as the result of 

 that labour, had enriched scientific literature with 

 descriptions of some of the most extraordinary 

 extinct animals with which his name was linked 

 to science." 



After mentioning the new forms, particularly 

 in fishes, which the rich fossiliferous deposits of 

 that neighbourhood had brought to light, Owen 

 insisted on the importance of local museums, 

 especially as preserving the objects of extinct 

 natural history found in their immediate locality. 

 He closed his discourse by saying that he was 

 brought to the same conclusion at which Newton 

 himself arrived — that there is a great First Cause 

 which, he was convinced, is not mechanical. 



In December 1861 the fatal illness of Prince 

 Albert caused a deep feeling of sorrow through- 

 out the country. To Owen the Prince's death 

 was a personal loss. ' You may imagine with 



