.332 OWEN’S POSITION IN ANATOMICAL SCIENCE 
achievements in Comparative Anatomy and 
Palceontology which I have recounted. 
But this really lay in the nature of things. 
Obvious as are the merits of Owen’s anatomical 
and paliEontological work to every expert, it is 
necessary to be an expert to discern them ; and 
endless pages of analysis of his memoirs would 
not have made the general reader any wiser than 
he was at first. On the other hand, the nature of 
the broad problems of the ‘ Archetype ’ and of 
‘ Parthenogenesis’ may easily be stated in such a 
way as to be generally intelligible ; while from 
Goethe to Zola, poets and novelists have made 
them interesting to the public. I have, therefore, 
permitted myself to dwell upon these topics at 
some length ; but the reader must bear in mind 
that, whatever view is taken of Sir Richard 
Owen’s speculations on these subjects, his claims 
to a high place among those who have made 
great and permanently valuable contributions to 
knowledge remain unassailable. 
