296 OWEN'S POSITION IN 



none the better than those of his opponents 

 because they happened to be in favour with the 

 multitude, instructed and uninstructed. The doc- 

 trines of emboitement in embryology ; of periodical 

 geological catastrophes ; of the fixity of species ; 

 of physiological deduction as the basis of palaeon- 

 tology ; and the restriction of the scope of bio- 

 logical science to mere observation and classifica- 

 tion — which is fairly deducible from some of 

 Cuvier's dicta, though I do not believe he ever 

 intended that it should be — are not one whit 

 more scientifically respectable than the least 

 sober speculations of Geoffroy. 



The irony of history is nowhere more ap- 

 parent than in science. Here we see the men, 

 over whose minds the coming events of the world 

 of biology cast their shadows, doing their best to 

 spoil their case in stating it ; while the man who 

 represented sound scientific method is doing his 

 best to stay the inevitable progress of thought 

 and bolster up antiquated traditions. The pro- 

 gress of knowledge, during the last seventy years, 

 enables us to see that neither Geoffroy, nor 

 Cuvier, was altogether right, nor altogether 

 wrong ; and that they were meant to hunt in 

 couples instead of pulling against one another. 

 Science has need of servants of very various 

 qualifications ; of artistic constructors no less 

 than of men of business ; of people to design her 

 palaces and of others to see that the materials are 



