276 
PROFESSOR OWEN 
CH. IX. 
to the adoption of such a principle the union of 
the fossil collections of the Museum with those 
of the College of Surgeons, the advantages to 
science are too obvious and numerous for present 
discussion. The difficulties in the way are 
numerous, and I fear insurmountable. If you have 
ever thought on the subject sufficiently to devise 
even the outline of any practical scheme for the 
purpose, I should be very thankful for any com- 
munication on the subject as confidential as you 
might wish to make it. 
‘ Believe me, very faithfully yours, 
‘ F. Egerton.’ 
Richard Ozven to Lord Francis Egerton 
College of Surgeons : March 27, 1846. 
‘ Dear Lord Francis Egerton, — Your letter 
has revived a hope in me on a subject which I 
have had at heart for some years, but about which 
I had begun to despond ; a remedy for the 
increasing anomaly of separate collections of 
natural objects, which, as at present disjoined, fail 
to illustrate the order and laws of Nature, and 
consequently are wanting in that which best 
justifies the expenses of collecting, housing, and 
arranging them. The first and most obvious 
practical remedy that suggested itself was that to 
which you refer — viz. the combination of the fossil 
skeletons at the British Museum with the recent 
ones at the College of Surgeons. It seemed the 
