Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 42.djvu/450

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Owen
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Owen

reotype taken in 1846, and from a photograph taken in later life. In 1881 his portrait was painted by Mr. Holman Hunt, and exhibited in the Grosvenor Gallery (see ‘Times,’ 2 May 1881). In the same year Mr. Hamo Thornycroft, R.A., exhibited a bust of Owen at the Royal Academy. A posthumous full-length bronze statue by Mr. Brock, R.A., was executed for the hall of the Natural History Museum, and a marble bust, by Mr. Gilbert, R.A., for the Royal College of Surgeons.

Apart from his innumerable contributions to scientific periodicals, special memoirs, and catalogues, the following are Owen's chief works:

  1. ‘Odontography; or a Treatise on the Comparative Anatomy of the Teeth, their Physiological Relations, Mode of Development, and Microscopic Structure in the Vertebrate Animals. Text and Atlas.’ London, 4to, 1840–5.
  2. ‘The Zoology of the Voyage of Her Majesty's Ship Beagle … during the Years 1832 to 1836.’ Part i. Fossil Mammalia, London, 1840.
  3. ‘Lectures on the Comparative Anatomy and Physiology of the Invertebrate Animals, delivered at the Royal College of Surgeons in 1843’ (from notes taken by Owen's pupil, W. White Cooper), London, 1843, 8vo (2nd edit. 1855). This forms vol. i. of the ‘Hunterian Lectures,’ of which vol. ii. (Fishes) appeared in 1846.
  4. ‘A History of British Fossil Mammals and Birds,’ London, 8vo, 1846 (issued in twelve parts between 1844 and 1846).
  5. ‘A History of British Fossil Reptiles,’ 4 vols. 4to, 1849–84. (A reprint of papers which appeared between 1849 and 1884 in the publications of the Palæontological and other Societies).
  6. ‘On Parthenogenesis, or the successive production of procreating individuals from a single ovum,’ London, 1849, 8vo.
  7. ‘Instances of the Power of God as manifested in His Animal Creation,’ London, 1855 (2nd edit. 1864).
  8. ‘On the Classification and Geographical Distribution of the Mammalia’ (Rede Lecture at Cambridge), London, 1859, 8vo.
  9. ‘The Principal Forms of the Skeleton and the Teeth, as the Basis for a System of Natural History and Comparative Anatomy’ (Orr's Circle of the Sciences), London, 1860, 8vo.
  10. ‘On the Extent and Aims of a National Museum of Natural History,’ London, 8vo, 1862.
  11. ‘On the Anatomy of Vertebrates,’ 3 vols. 8vo, London. Vol. i. Fishes and Reptiles, 1866; vol. ii. Birds and Mammals, 1866; vol. iii. Mammals, 1868.
  12. ‘Memoir on the Dodo,’ with an historical Introduction by W. J. Broderip, London, 4to, 1866.
  13. ‘Researches on the Fossil Remains of the Extinct Mammals of Australia, with a notice of the Extinct Marsupials of England,’ 2 vols. London, 4to, 1877–8.
  14. ‘Memoirs on the Extinct Wingless Birds of New Zealand, with an Appendix on those of England, Australia, Newfoundland, Mauritius, and Rodriguez,’ 2 vols. London, 4to, 1879.
  15. ‘Experimental Physiology; its Benefits to Mankind,’ London, 8vo, 1882.
  16. ‘Aspects of the Body in Vertebrates and Invertebrates,’ London, 8vo, 1883.

A complete list of Owen's contributions to scientific journals; Remarks, Descriptions, Notes, Observations, Reviews, Reports, Catalogues, and Appendices is given in ‘The Life, by his Grandson’ (1894, ii. 333–86).

But no account of Owen's enormous contributions to scientific literature would be complete without mention of his custom of having privately struck off a certain number of copies both of the text and illustrations of memoirs communicated to various societies, and at a later period of issuing and selling them as independent works, with slight alterations and additions, and with very little reference to the fact that they had been previously published elsewhere; the original signatures to the sheets and lettering of the plates were invariably altered. Nos. 5, 13, and 14 in the above list are examples of this confusing practice. Although Owen's method of double publication may have made his memoirs more accessible to specialists working at particular subjects, it has caused much confusion in determining the real dates of his discoveries and of their publication. For scientific purposes the original memoirs should always be consulted.

[Extensive use has here been made of the memoir contributed by the present writer to the Proceedings of the Royal Society in 1893, and of the Life of Richard Owen by his grandson, the Rev. Richard Owen, which was published in two vols. in 1894, with an essay on Owen's position in anatomical science by T. H. Huxley, F.R.S. (2 vols. 1894).]

OWEN, ROBERT (1771–1858), socialist, born on 14 May 1771, at Newtown, Montgomeryshire, was son of Robert Owen, by his wife, Anne Williams. The father, a saddler and ironmonger, was postmaster of Newtown, then a country town of about a thousand inhabitants. Robert, youngest of seven children, was an active lad; he was the best runner and leaper among his companions, and afterwards became a good dancer. He was sent to a day school at a very early age. Soon afterwards, by hastily swallowing some scalding 'flummery'—a preparation of flour and milk—he injured his digestion for life. He says that consequent necessity of careful attention to diet had a great effect upon his character. He learnt all that his master could teach so