126 
PROFESSOR OWEN 
CH. IV. 
we had but the inclination to examine the ope- 
rations of Nature, are we placed in a museum. 
Look at Gilbert White, who, while living in the 
little village of Selborne, devoted his intellect to 
the common objects of the country around him, 
and who has given us. from the results he then 
achieved, a book which will probably remain so 
long as the English tongue is spoken. 
‘ There was also Gideon Mantell, who, when 
practising in a small obscure town in the provinces, 
found leisure time to look into the marvels of 
the country around him, and, as the result of 
that labour, had enriched scientific literature with 
descriptions of some of the most extraordinary 
extinct animals with which his name was linked 
to science.’ 
After mentioning the new forms, particularly 
in fishes, which the rich fossiliferous deposits of 
that neighbourhood had brought to light, Owen 
insisted on the importance of local museums, 
especially as preserving the objects of extinct 
natural history found in their immediate locality. 
He closed his discourse by saying that he was 
brought to the same conclusion at which Newton 
himself arrived — that there is a great First Cause 
which, he was convinced, is not mechanical. 
In December i86i the fatal illness of Prince 
Albert caused a deep feeling of sorrow through- 
out the country. To Owen the Prince’s death 
was a personal loss. ‘ Y ou may imagine with 
