Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XII.djvu/763

This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
OWEN
749

fertile, especially near the borders of the streams. It contains extensive and very rich mines of coal and iron ore. The Indianapolis and Vincennes railroad passes through it. The chief productions in 1870 were 202,512 bushels of wheat, 602,098 of Indian corn, 100,216 of oats, 48,064 of potatoes, 168,660 lbs. of butter, 86,612 of wool, and 9,253 tons of hay. There were 5,815 horses, 4,532 milch cows, 8,531 other cattle, 30,285 sheep, and 24,685 swine; 15 manufactories of carriages and wagons, 7 of saddlery and harness, 7 flour mills, and 19 saw mills. Capital, Spencer.

OWEN, John, an English divine, born at Stadham, Oxfordshire, in 1616, died at Baling, near London, Aug. 24, 1683. 'At the age of 12 he was entered at Queen's college, Oxford, receiving his bachelor's degree at 16, and his master's degree at 19. The lead which he took in resisting Archbishop Laud's new academical regulations brought upon him the ill will of the high church party; and the support of an uncle being withdrawn, he was compelled to leave his place at Oxford, to accept orders in the church, and to support himself by private teaching and by officiating as chaplain. His mind was greatly exercised by doubts concerning his religious state and his duty in national affairs, which resulted finally in his open adhesion to the side of the parliament against the king. The type of faith which he chose was strict Calvinism, and his first work was the "Display of Arminianism " (1642). In reward for it he received from the committee of parliament the living of Fordham in Essex, where he gained fame as a pulpit orator. This was increased when he removed to Coggeshall; and his change while here from the Presbyterian to the Independent form of church government only made him more popular. In April, 1646, he was first called to preach before the parliament, and he had the dangerous honor of addressing them on the day after the execution of Charles I. Cromwell favored him, took him as private chaplain on his expeditions to Ireland and Scotland, and, when he had received the office of dean in Christchurch college, made him in addition vice chancellor of the university. The five years in which he held this office were years of great activity; he preached constantly and published several of his most important works, receiving in 1653 the degree of D. D. After the death of Cromwell Presbyterian opposition deprived him of his offices, and at the restoration he retired to his native town; but he persevered in addressing assemblies and in expounding the principles of that Savoy confession which he had assisted in preparing. While in Newtown he published a work entitled Fiat Lux, which attracted the notice of Lord Clarendon, who offered him immediate preferment if he would conform; but he refused. From 1667 to 1670 he took charge of a congregation in Leadenhall street, London, where his eloquence secured the favor of many of the nobility, and even for a time of the king and his Catholic brother; and he had repeated interviews with Charles II. The last 12 years of his life were a period of weakness and pain. His work on "The Glory of Christ" was hardly prepared for the press when he died. Owen's works are voluminous and on many subjects. There were 7 volumes in folio, 20 in quarto, and 30 in octavo. A complete edition was edited by Thomas Russell, with a life by William Orme (21 vols., London, 1826). There is also an edition published in Edinburgh (24 vols. 8vo, 1859).

OWEN, Richard, a British anatomist, born in Lancaster in 1804. He was for some years a pupil of a surgeon in Lancaster, and in 1824 he attended medical lectures at Edinburgh, acquiring a predilection for the study of comparative anatomy. In 1825 he went to London, became a student at St. Bartholomew's hospital, and was employed by Abernethy as prosector. In 1826 he became a member of the royal college of surgeons, and shortly after by the assistance of Abernethy was appointed assistant curator of the Hunterian museun. No catalogue of this collection existed, and Owen prepared in conjunction with Mr. Clift the catalogue of the pathological specimens (2 vols. 4to, 1830), and that of the monsters and malformations (4to, 1831), both comprising descriptions of the specimens. Between 1833 and 1840 Owen produced the elaborate "Descriptive and Illustrated Catalogue of the Physiological Series of Comparative Anatomy" (5 vols. 4to). In order to identify the Hunterian preparations, it was necessary to make new dissections for comparison; and while engaged in this occupation he was constantly opening new paths of inquiry and making discoveries. The materials and suggestions thus acquired have been employed to illustrate four great departments of natural science, viz.: comparative anatomy and physiology, zoölogy, palæontology, and transcendental anatomy and physiology. As an anatomist he has extended his labors over the four divisions of the animal kingdom, giving more attention to the vertebrates, and particularly to its chief division, the mammalia, than to either of the others. Among his papers on the mammalia, those devoted to the quadrumana, the carnivora, and the marsupialia are the fullest and most important. His researches among the birds, reptiles, and fishes, both with respect to their classification and their connection with extinct species, have been not less remarkable; and in connection with this branch of his labors he has opened a rich field of inquiry among the extinct birds of New Zealand, resulting in the discovery of the gigantic genus dinornis, with many of its species, and several kindred genera. His "Memoir on the Pearly Nautilus," published in 1832, containing a description of its anatomy, and a proposal for a new classification of the family of cephalopodous mollusks, was followed by an important series of papers