taken from him. On the contrary, General Buckner went out into the field where the regiment was guarded, and thanked Colonel Owen for his kindness to the four thousand Fort Donelson prisoners at Camp Morton. He was treated very politely by General Bragg, with whom he had become acquainted in the Mexican War."
Later Owen was in the battle of Arkansas Post, and took part in the campaigns of Sherman and Grant about Vicksburg. He was with General Banks in 1863 on the Red River campaign, and while thus engaged was elected by the trustees of the University of Indiana to the professorship of natural science. He accepted the position on condition that his place should be temporarily supplied till the end of the war.
On January 1, 1864, he assumed the duties of his professorship in the university, which he continued to fill for fifteen years. In June, 1879, at the age of sixty-nine, he resigned, an increasing deafness, the result of sunstroke, having made his college duties burdensome to him. He retired to his estate at New Harmony, where he lived until March 25, 1890. His death was a tragic one, caused by accidentally drinking a quantity of arsenical embalming fluid.
While connected with the university he continued his work for the United States Geological Survey, exploring New Mexico and Arizona. During 1869 he traveled widely in Europe and America.
Of Dr. Owen's work as a teacher I may speak briefly. Under the present system of elective study he would have been an ideal teacher, earnest, thorough, and inspiring. Under the old system his best powers were never called for. He had neither skill nor taste for the work of drill master. He taught those well who cared to learn. He believed in large freedom of the student. His students were on their honor, and those who had no honor abused their freedom. It was part of the vicious system which prevailed in our colleges in the last generation that learned men capable of the highest work, and full of the inspiration which comes from thorough knowledge, should be compelled to spend their time and strength in crowding the elements of various subjects upon unwilling and unresponsive boys. A teacher should have the opportunity to give the best that is in him, and to give this to those who are ready and worthy to receive it.
In 1872 Dr. Owen was elected President of Purdue University, the agricultural and mechanical college of Indiana, established under the Morrill Act. This position he accepted, but, as after two years the school still remained unorganized, he never assumed the duties of the office. He published an interesting report to the trustees on the proposed method of organization and government
