206 PROFESSOR OWEN ch. vn. 



lege of Surgeons the * Baly medal, the first given 

 since its foundation. 



The summer holiday was spent mainly in 

 Ireland. On September 20 Owen writes to his 

 sister from Florence Court : ' I have been passing 

 a very pleasant holiday with my old friend Lord 

 Enniskillen. I leave to-morrow, sleep at Dublin, 

 see my scientific friends and their museums there, 

 and then sail for Holyhead, go on to Barmouth, 

 spend a few days there, and then home.' * Your 

 rival as regards my pen, ' Owen writes to his 

 sister, December 6, ' has been a monster kanga- 

 roo, which I have been hunting for more than 

 thirty years, and at length have caught, all but 

 his feet. However, I cannot wait any longer for 

 them, and so shall introduce him to the Royal 

 Society next week, and prop him up as well as I 

 can. His head is a yard long, his bones and teeth 

 (fossil) have been gathered from divers localities 

 in Australia.' 



Meanwhile, the struggle in Parliament over 

 the new museum was gradually coming to an 

 end. If Owen had not obtained all that he 

 wished, he was more than satisfied with the result. 

 The passing of the Bill gave an additional charm 

 to the summer holiday of 1870. Writing to his 

 wife on August 4, from Pendell Court, Owen 

 says : ' You would perhaps see that the Museum 

 Bill has passed the House. They gave me four 

 acres for the building, and 3,500/. We ask this 



