Complete Record - Heirs of Hippocrates No. 1669

SIR RICHARD OWEN (1804-1892) Descriptive and illustrated catalogue of the physiological series of comparative anatomy contained in the Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons in London. Printed by R. Taylor 1833-1840 79 plates (part fold., part col.). 28.8 cm.

Owen was the outstanding zoologist-anatomist of his time. A student of John Abernethy (see No. 1193 ff.), he became Hunterian professor at the Royal College of Surgeons and later was superintendent of the Natural History Department of the British Museum. At first an anti-Darwinist, he was eventually won over to the evolutionary theory by the arguments of Thomas Huxley in its favor. After John Hunter's (see No. 968 ff.) death, his extensive museum of anatomical specimens was cared for by his assistant, William Clift, who persuaded the British government to purchase the collection. Hunter's collection formed the basis for the collections in the Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons where Owen later became curator. The catalogue is very well illustrated, and many of the seventy-nine copperplates were drawn by William Bell (fl. 1830). The Museum was destroyed during World War II.

See Related Record(s): 1193 968

Cited references: Garrison-Morton 326

Gift of John Martin, M.D.