Richard Owen

Sir Richard Owen (July 20, 1804 - December 18, 1892) was an English biologist, comparative anatomist and palaeontologist.

Owen and Darwin's theory of evolution

Following the Voyage of the Beagle, Charles Darwin had at his disposal a considerable collection of specimens and on 29 October 1836 he was introduced by Charles Lyell to Owen, who agreed to work on fossil bones collected in South America. Owen's subsequent revelations that extinct giant creatures were rodents and sloths showed that they were related to current species in the same locality, rather than being relatives of similarly sized creatures in Africa as Darwin had originally thought. This was a spur to the inception of Darwin's theory of natural selection.

Related Topics:
The Voyage of the Beagle - Charles Darwin - 29 October - 1836 - Charles Lyell - South America - Africa - Inception of Darwin's theory - Natural selection

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At this time Owen talked of his theories influenced by Johannes Peter Müller that living matter had an "organising energy", a life-force that directed the growth of tissues and also determined the lifespan of the individual and of the species. Darwin was reticent about his own thoughts, understandably when on 19 December 1838 as secretary of the Geological Society of London he saw Owen and his allies ridicule the Lamarckian "heresy" of Darwin's old tutor Robert Edmund Grant. In 1841 when the recently married Darwin was ill, Owen was one of the few scientific friends to visit, but Owen's opposition to any hint of Transmutation made Darwin keep quiet about his theories.

Related Topics:
Johannes Peter Müller - 19 December - 1838 - Geological Society of London - Lamarckian - Robert Edmund Grant - 1841 - Transmutation

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During the development of Darwin's theory his investigation of barnacles found in 1849 how their segmentation related to other crustaceans, showing how they had diverged from their relatives. To Owen such "homologies" in comparative anatomy showed "archetypes" in the Divine mind, but to Darwin this was evidence of Descent. Owen demonstrated fossil evidence of an evolutionary sequence of horses as supporting his idea of development from archetypes in "ordained continuous becoming", and in 1854 gave a British Association talk on the impossibility of bestial apes such as the recently discovered gorilla standing erect and being transmuted into men. Working class militants were trumpeting man's monkey origins. To crush these ideas, Owen as President-elect of the Royal Association announced his authoritative anatomical studies of primate brains showing that humans were not just a separate species, but a separate sub-class. Darwin wrote that "I cannot swallow Man distinct from a Chimpanzee". The combative Thomas Huxley used his March 1858 Royal Institution lecture to claim that structurally gorillas are as close to humans as they are to baboons and added that he believed that the "mental & moral faculties are essentially... the same kind in animals & ourselves". This was a clear challenge to Owen's lecture claiming human uniqueness, given at the same venue.

Related Topics:
Development of Darwin's theory - 1849 - 1854 - British Association - Gorilla - Thomas Huxley - 1858 - Royal Institution - Baboon

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On the publication of Darwin's theory in The Origin of Species he sent a complimentary copy to Owen, saying "it will seem 'an abomination'."' Owen was the first to respond, courteously claiming that he had long believed that "existing influences" were responsible for the "ordained" birth of species. Darwin now had long talks with him, and Owen said that the book offered the best explanation "ever published of the manner of formation of species", though he still had the gravest doubts that transmutation would bestialize man. It appears that Darwin had assured Owen that he was looking at everything as resulting from designed laws, which Owen interpreted as showing a shared belief in "Creative Power".

Related Topics:
Publication of Darwin's theory - The Origin of Species

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In his lofty position at the head of Science, Owen received numerous complaints about the book. His own position remained unknown: when emphasising to a Parliamentary committee the need for a new Natural History museum, he pointed out that "The whole intellectual world this year has been excited by a book on the origin of species; and what is the consequence? Visitors come to the British Museum, and they say, "Let us see all these varieties of pigeons: where is the tumbler, where is the pouter?" and I am obliged with shame to say, I can show you none of them".... As to showing you the varieties of those species, or of any of those phenomena that would aid one in getting at that mystery of mysteries, the origin of species, our space does not permit; but surely there ought to be a space somewhere, and, if not in the British Museum, where is it to be obtained?"

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However, Huxley's attacks were making their mark. When Owen's Edinburgh review of the Origin appeared in April 1860 he showed his anger at what he saw as Darwin's caricature of the creationist position and his ignoring Owen's "axiom of the continuous operation of the ordained becoming of living things". To him, new species appeared at birth, not through natural selection. As well as attacking Darwin's "disciples" Hooker and Huxley for their "short sighted adherence", he thought that the book symbolised the sort of "abuse of science... to which a neighbouring nation, some seventy years since, owed its temporary degradation" in a reference to the French Revolution. Darwin thought it "Spiteful, extremely malignant, clever, and... damaging", and later commented that "The Londoners say he is mad with envy because my book is so talked about. It is painful to be hated in the intense degree with which Owen hates me."

Related Topics:
1860 - French Revolution

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During the reaction to Darwin's theory Huxley's arguments with Owen continued. Owen tried to smear Huxley by portraying him as an "advocate of man's origins from a transmuted ape", and one of his contributions to the Athenaeum was titled "Ape-Origin of Man as Tested by the Brain". This backfired, as Huxley had already delighted Darwin by speculating on "pithecoid man" – ape-like man. He took the opportunity to publicly turn the anatomy of brain structure into a question of human ancestry, and was determined to indict Owen for perjury. The campaign ran over two years and was devastatingly successful, with each "slaying" being followed by a recruiting drive for the Darwinian cause. The spite lingered. When Huxley joined the Zoological Society Council in 1861, Owen left, and in the following year Huxley moved to stop Owen from being elected to the Royal Society Council, accusing him "of wilful & deliberate falsehood."

Related Topics:
Reaction to Darwin's theory - 1861

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In January 1863 Owen bought the archaeopteryx fossil for the British Museum. It fulfilled Darwin's prediction that a proto-bird with unfused wing fingers would be found, though Owen described it unequivocally as a bird.

Related Topics:
1863 - Archaeopteryx - British Museum

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The feuding between Owen and Darwin's supporters continued. In 1871 Owen was found to be involved in a threat to end government funding of Joseph Dalton Hooker's botanical collection at Kew, possibly trying to bring it under his British Museum, Darwin commented that "I used to be ashamed of hating him so much, but now I will carefully cherish my hatred & contempt to the last days of my life".

Related Topics:
1871 - Joseph Dalton Hooker - Kew - British Museum

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