48  PKOCEEDINGS  OE  THE  GEOLOGICAL  SOCIETY.  [May  1 893, 
possession  of  some  most  valued  friendships.  He  received  this  testi¬ 
mony  as  a  strong  stimulus  to  future  endeavours,  and  pledged  himself 
to  lose  no  available  time  in  furthering  that  branch  of  Geological 
Science  which  deals  with  extinct  animals.  Thus  it  was  that  the 
comparative  anatomist  of  the  College  of  Surgeons  was  induced  to 
become  a  palaeontologist.  That  the  Wollaston  Medallist  of  1838 
amply  redeemed  his  promises  the  publications  of  our  own  Society 
and  of  the  Palaeontographical  Society,  to  mention  no  others,  bear 
most  convincing  testimony. 
As  regards  Prof.  Owen’s  further  connexion  with  this  Society,  other 
than  as  a  contributor  to  its  publications,  he  appears  to  have  been  on 
the  Council  at  different  times  between  the  years  1838  and  1857 
inclusive,  acting  as  Vice-President  in  1845,  1847,  and  1853.  It 
is  said  that  the  Presidency  of  the  Society  was  offered  to  him  and  that 
he  declined  it,  but  no  authority  can  be  given  for  the  statement, 
neither  is  anything  known  as  to  the  period  when  this  supposed  offer 
was  made.  The  only  thing  we  can  say  for  certain  is  that  since 
1857,  being  the  year  he  was  elected  President  of  the  British  Asso¬ 
ciation,  he  took  no  active  part  in  the  administration  of  the  affairs 
of  this  Society. 
It  would  be  no  easy  task  to  enumerate  all  the  honours  and 
appointments  which  fell  to  the  lot  of  Prof.  Owen  during  a  career 
which  we  may  regard  as  having  been  fully  established  in  the  pre- 
Victorian  era,  though  attaining  its  zenith  during  the  present  reign. 
Six  years  after  the  award  of  the  Wollaston  Medal  he  received  the 
Boyal  Medal  from  the  Boyal  Society  for  his  descriptive  memoir  on 
the  Belemnites  of  the  Oxford  Clay,  and  he  was  further  awarded  the 
Copley  Medal  from  the  same  Society  in  1851.  Barely  has  a  savant 
met  with  such  an  amount  of  recognition  from  nearly  all  quarters. 
He  received  (1858)  the  appointment  of  Fullerian  Professor  of 
Physiology  in  the  Boyal  Institution,  was  made  LL.D.  of  Cambridge 
and  D.C.L.  of  Oxford.  About  the  same  time,  in  accordance  with 
the  wish  of  the  late  Prince  Consort,  Prof.  Owen  was  requested  by 
Her  Majesty  to  deliver  at  Buckingham  Palace  a  course  of  lectures 
on  the  elements  of  natural  history,  including  zoology  and  geology. 
From  the  late  Emperor  of  the  French  he  received  the  insignia  of 
the  Legion  of  Honour,  from  the  King  of  Italy  the  order  of 
St.  Maurice  and  St.  Lazarus,  and  from  the  King  of  Prussia  the  Star 
of  the  Order  of  Merit ;  whilst  in  the  e  Prix  Cuvier,’  awarded  by  the 
Institute  of  France,  he  obtained  a  recognition  from  that  body  which 
was  peculiarly  appropriate. 
