nethy. Soon after he had begun to practice his profession Abernethy, who had noticed the peculiar ability of his pupil as a dissector, obtained for him an appointment to arrange and catalogue the collections formed by John Hunter. Two years later he was appointed a lecturer at St. Bartholomew's Hospital, and after six years became Professor of Comparative Anatomy at the same institution. This was in 1834. In 1836 he was appointed Hunterian Professor at the Royal College of Surgeons, and the next year the professorship of anatomy and physiology was also assigned to him. As Hunterian Professor Owen delivered twenty-four lectures annually until 1855, making them illustrate Hunter's collections, and without ever repeating a subject. His time was now fully occupied with lecturing and scientific research. In the year 1831 he had published eight papers on the anatomy of various creatures that had died in the Zoölogical Gardens. His memoir on the Pearly Nautilus, published in 1832, "placed its author, at a bound, in the front rank of anatomical monographers." In his memoirs on the anthropoid apes, the monotremes, and the marsupials Owen gave the most complete accounts of the structure of these animals then extant. Memoirs of similar character on the apteryx, great auk, and dodo were produced by him. He discovered that terrible parasite the Trichina. His researches on fossil forms were also important. Says Huxley, "Unless it be in the Ossemenes Fossiles, I do not know where one is to look for contributions to paleontology more varied, more numerous, and on the whole more accurate than those which Owen poured forth in rapid succession between 1837 and 1888." His studies in philosophical anatomy were directed chiefly toward the "archetype" of the vertebrate skeleton and the problem of parthenogenesis.
The story of such a life, with its accompaniment of struggles, labor, recreation, domestic affairs, and honors, is told in the two volumes before us. The material for this biography was plentiful and highly satisfactory, consisting of twelve hundred letters from Owen to his wife and sisters, besides many to other persons, and fifteen thousand received by him in the course of his long life, also the diaries kept by him. and his wife. The journal of his wife is a full record not only of the important facts but also of the trivial details of their joint lives, and large use has been made of it. By its aid we see Owen attending meetings of scientific societies and committees, with an occasional dinner, public or private, writing late into the night on his lectures or monographs, receiving leading naturalists at his house for consultation or study with the microscope, and now and then going with his wife to the zoölogical garden, or for an evening's recreation at the theater. Music and novels were other recreations that he greatly enjoyed. His visits to various parts of Great Britain and the Continent are described in very readable letters to some member of his family who did not accompany him. Many comical incidents and characteristic anecdotes of celebrated persons give a genial warmth to the recital.
Prof. Huxley's essay traces the progress of comparative anatomy before 1830, sets forth Owen's contributions to the science, and discusses his views on the "archetype" and "parthenogenesis." His conclusion in regard to Owen is that "his claims to a high place among those who have made great and permanently valuable contributions to knowledge remain unassailable." A bibliography of Owen's publications and a list of his honors close the record,
A History of Amherst College. By William S. Tyler, D. D., LL. D. With an Introductory Note by Richard Salter Storrs, D. D., LL. D. Published by subscription. Frederick H. Hitchcock, 55 West Forty-fifth Street, New York. Pp. 312. Price, $1.50.
A history of Amherst College, forming a substantial octavo volume, was written by Dr. Tyler soon after the fiftieth anniversary of the institution, in 1871. He has now told the story of the college in smaller compass and brought it down to the close of President Seelye's administration, in 1890. The labors of the founders of the college, the financial struggles of its early years, its period of depression and triumphant recovery, and its later years of increased usefulness through enlarged resources are set forth in a way to compel the respect of all friends of education. Although Amherst was founded for the education of preachers and missionaries, and "the gift of tongues" was deemed a
