1862-64 ABNORMAL DEVELOPMENTS 133 



of this wondrous structure. Think what it may be- 

 come — the Temple of the Holy Spirit ! Defile 

 it not. Seek rather to adorn it with all meet and 

 becoming gifts, and with fair furniture, moral and 

 intellectual ' 



Owen never let an opportunity pass of seeing 

 with his own eyes any curious or abnormal deve- 

 lopment of the human frame. He once remarked, 

 a propos of violin-playing, how much struck he 

 had been in examining Ernst's long, bony, and 

 muscular fingers, which the great violinist had 

 obligingly offered for the Professor's inspection. 

 On one occasion (August 8), ' Frank Buckland 

 came to the British Museum for R. and took him 

 to see the French giant, Joseph Brice. now being 

 exhibited in London. They found him in bed with 

 a cold. He looked, R. said, quite a Goliath as he 

 lay his full length, with his great hands spread 

 out on the bed, but he is not quite so tall as he is 

 represented to be. He is really 7 ft. 6 in. He is 

 a great favourite of Frank's, and is certainly ami- 

 able and pleasant.' 



On September 22, Professor Owen received 

 a document from the Italian Legation, creating 

 him a Chevalier of the Order of St. Maurice and 

 St. Lazare, in the name of the King, Victor 

 Emanuel. 



Owen was the guest of Mr. Gladstone at 

 Hawarden in September 1862, and wrote to his 

 sister from that place on the 27th. He gives little 



