The Life of Richard Owen

Abstract

THE life of this well-known and eminent anatomist, written by his grandson, the Rev. Richard Owen, has been based on such a large amount of material that “the writer's chief difficulty has been to compress the biography within reasonable limits.” While acknowledging that the art of compression is a difficult one, we still must express some disappointment at the way in which it has been carried out in the two volumes of this biography. For over sixty years Owen filled a more or less conspicuous place in the scientific world; in a large measure a self-taught anatomist, he at a very early age became a teacher of anatomy to others, with a wondrous collection of material at his disposal to illustrate his teaching. In these volumes we do not seem to find enough about his evolution as a man of science, and we could, in some measure, have dispensed with many of the trifling details of his every-day life, which have, if any, but a passing interest. In the following sketch we attempt to show but a phase of Owen's character; but, in common with all who had any personal knowledge of him, we do not overlook, nor can we forget, the charm of his domestic and cultured life.

The Life of Richard Owen.

By his grandson, the Rev. Richard Owen With the scientific portions revised by C. Davies Sherborn. Also an Essay on Owen's Position in Anatomical Science, by the Right Hon. T. H. Huxley, F.R.S. (London: John Murray, 1894.)