1872-83 
FROGS IN STONES 
225 
old Lord Russell. He sat down to dinner in a 
comfortable cloak and black cap, like a lively, 
keen-eyed mummy : as full of bright mind and 
anecdote and fun as ever.’ 
Owen had not yet heard the last of ‘ frogs in 
stones and other wonders. In November he 
writes to a lady, who affirms that she saw ‘ with 
the utmost surprise,’ a frog come out of a bit of 
rock which was taken out of a pit, and asks how 
long it had been there. ‘ My dear madam,’ the 
Professor replies, ‘ the time during which the 
frog was in the pit will depend a good deal upon 
whether it came out of a cleft in the stone, into 
which it could have crept before being disturbed 
by the men, or whether it had been imbedded in 
the substance of that stone. If the latter, it must 
have got in before the stone was stone — when, e.g., 
it was sand. 
‘ The living state of the frog tells against that 
hypothesis. The astonishment and “ utmost sur- 
prise ” of the spectators are unfavourable states 
of mind to clear insight and cool consideration of 
the circumstances of the case. ... No coal or 
stone exists in any museum bearing the impress 
of a toad or frog therein embedded. Verb. sap. ! 
Madam, yours faithfully and obliged, 
‘ Richard Owen.’ 
In 1873 Owen described in the Journal of the 
Geological Society the skull of a toothed bird 
VOL. II. o 
