1837-38 LECTURES IN COLLEGE OF SURGEONS 103 
CHAPTER IV 
1837-38 
Hunterian Professor and Professor of Anatomy and Physiology in 
the College of Surgeons, 1837— His Courses of Lectures— Birth 
of his Son, October 6, 1837— the British Association at New- 
castle, 1838 — Visit to Germany, 1838 — Death of his Mother, 
November 1838. 
On the retirement of Sir Charles Bell from the 
Professorship of Anatomy and Physiology in the 
College of Surgeons, in the early part of 1837, 
Owen was elected to the vacant chair. When the 
Government purchased the Hunterian Museum 
and transferred it to the College, a stipulation was 
made that its contents should be illustrated by a 
course of twenty-four lectures delivered annually. 
This course had previously been divided between 
the College Professors of Anatomy and Surgery, 
each of whom devoted their twelve lectures to 
some special subject in which they had attained 
eminence, but which had no special reference to 
the Hunterian Collections. These twenty-four 
annual lectures Owen, as Hunterian Professor, 
undertook to deliver, as illustrative of Hunters 
Collections, and without ever repeating the same 
