1857-59 
OWEN’S OPINION 
93 
fest to the editor, as well as to myself, that Pro- 
fessor Owen claimed to have promulgated the 
theory of natural selection before I had done so ; 
9 -nd I expressed my surprise and satisfaction at 
this announcement ; but as far as it is possible to 
Understand certain recently published passages,® 
f have either partially or wholly again fallen into 
urror. It is consolatory to me that others find 
f'rofessor Owen’s controversial writings as difficult 
to understand and to reconcile with each other as I 
^0. As far as the mere enunciation of the prin- 
ciple of natural selection is concerned, it is quite 
iitimaterial whether or not Professor Owen pre- 
ceded me, for both of us, as shown in this histo- 
*'ioal sketch, were long ago preceded by Dr. Wells 
^ud Mr. Matthews.’ 
‘ Owen could never be induced to follow,’ 
"’tites Mr. Smith Woodward, in ‘ Natural Science’ 
(February 1893), ‘the new school of anatomy 
^ud zoology that arose with the epoch-making 
’‘^searches of Von Baer and Rathke in embryo- 
*Qgy- . . . 
‘ This marked disregard of embryology as the 
essential adjunct, even if not the key, of compara- 
tive anatomy, is all the more surprising, since so 
Urge a proportion of Owen’s researches on verte- 
cute animals were devoted to the fossil remains 
past ages. If any phase of biological research 
can benefit by embryology, that is assuredly 
” Anat. of Vert., vol. ill. p. 798. 
