- Email: [email protected]
The glands of Owen…who was Owen?
Historical Lecture The glands of Owen.who was Owen? David McAneny, MD, FACS and Robert M. Beazley, MD, FACS, Boston, MA
From the Boston University School of Medicine, Boston Medical Center, Boston, MA
MOST ENDOCRINE SURGEONS ARE FAMILIAR WITH THE ‘‘GLANDS OF OWEN,’’ but few know about Sir Richard Owen’s interesting life and professional career. Richard Owen was a 19th-century British surgeon who became a naturalist, anatomist, and internationally respected vertebrate paleontologist. In just his third decade of life, The Times reported that ‘‘there is not a more distinguished man of science in the country’’ than Professor Owen.1 When one considers his modest background, Owen’s professional accomplishments and social ascent were indeed remarkable. EARLY YEARS Richard Owen was born in Lancaster, England, on July 20, 1804, the son of a merchant in the West Indies trade. He attended Lancaster Royal Grammar School, where he was described by one of his tutors ‘‘as lazy and impudent and would come to a bad end.’’2 In 1820, Owen apprenticed to a series of Lancaster surgeons before enrolling at the University of Edinburgh 4 years later. He studied with John Barclay, who taught the perspective of comparative anatomy. Owen realized that although anatomy is essential to understanding surgery and science, it might also be a ‘‘powerful agent for tackling fundamental issues in science: the origin and extinction of species, and the process of Creation itself.’’2 Supported in part by a grant from the Retired Faculty and Staff Society, Boston University. Presented by Robert M. Beazley, MD, at the 36th Annual Meeting of the American Association of Endocrine Surgeons, May 17–19, 2015, Nashville, TN. Accepted for publication August 5, 2015. Reprint requests: David McAneny, MD, FACS, Vice Chair, Department of Surgery, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston Medical Center, FGH Building, Suite 5003, 820 Harrison Avenue, Boston, MA 02118. E-mail: [email protected]. Surgery 2016;159:7-10. 0039-6060/$ - see front matter Ó 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.surg.2015.08.035
He also became aware of the contemporary debate at continental universities between the conventional creationists and the evolutionists. At issue was whether new species were capable of evolving or were all species created either simultaneously or perhaps by a series of events over a period of time? Most British scientists subscribed to Paley’s 1802 Theory of Natural Theology, which had been required reading at the University of Cambridge for nearly 50 years. Paley proposed that the complex structure of living things required an intelligent designer, namely God. At the time ‘‘men of science,’’ mostly trained theologians who lectured at both Cambridge and the University of Oxford, believed commonly that by studying nature, they were ‘‘broadening their knowledge of God.’’3 A CITY LIFE After Owen had spent only 7 months in Edinburgh, Barclay advised him to study surgery in London at St. Bartholomew’s Hospital under the direction of Mr. John Abernethy, then President of the Royal College of Surgeons of England. Abernethy soon charged Owen to prosect during his surgery lectures. By the age of 23, 16 months after arriving in London, Owen had obtained Fellowship in the Royal College of Surgeons. The British Government had purchased John Hunter’s famous anatomical collection in 1799 and had entrusted the Royal College of Surgeons to catalog it. After a 25-year delay, the Government and the editors of The Lancet pressed both the Royal College and Abernethy to complete the registry and to exhibit publicly the 3,700-specimen collection of Hunter’s. Abernethy asked Owen to assist William Clift, conservator of the project and Hunter’s last apprentice, in identifying those specimens lacking labels. Owen’s employment at the Hunterian Museum would extend for 29 years. Baron Georges Cuvier, Professor of Comparative Anatomy at the Museum national d’histoire naturelle in Paris and pioneer of vertebrate paleontology, visited the Hunterian Museum in August 1830 to advance his work on fishes. Because Owen, SURGERY 7
8 McAneny and Beazley
Surgery January 2016
whose mother was of Huguenot descent, was fluent in French, he guided Cuvier during his London stay. Not surprisingly, Cuvier entertained Owen in Paris the following summer. After 2 months, Owen returned to London, enthused by the French system and its superb Mus eum and possibly dreaming of such a venture in Britain. AN IMPRESSIVE START Owen’s first 7 years at the Hunterian Museum were indeed productive. His new membership to the Zoological Society of London provided access to fresh animal carcasses, and he regularly presented papers during Society meetings over the next 5 decades. Owen received a pearly nautilus, an as-yet unreported fossil but similar to other fossils found widely in English marine deposits.4 Memoir on the Pearly Nautilus was his second publication and conveyed election to the Royal Society. Owen was appointed Professor of Comparative Anatomy at St. Bartholomew’s Hospital in 1834. He described the causative agent of Trichinosis using tissue he had received from a medical student later known as Sir James Paget, a founder of the study of pathology. In 1835, Owen married Caroline Clift, daughter of his superior and Hunterian curator, and they took up residence in an apartment at the Royal College. Owen was appointed Hunterian Professor at the Royal College of Surgeons the following year, and he was soon elected to fill Sir Charles Bell’s (of palsy fame) vacated seat as Professor of Anatomy and Physiology at the Royal College (Fig 1). By the end of 1839, Owen had authored 150 papers and 5 descriptive catalogues of the Hunterian Collection, had received a grant from the British Association for the Advancement of Science, and had become a highly respected anatomist, both in Britain and abroad. In 1842, using a combination of paleontology and comparative anatomy to assess the presence of fused sacral vertebrae and mammal-like limb bones in fossils, Owen classified large terrestrial reptiles under a new order that he named Dinosauria, from the Greek words, ‘‘deinos’’ (fearful, terrible, or wondrous) and ‘‘sauros’’ (lizard).5 Richard Owen had been quite productive in science, but he was no less ambitious in London high society. It was rare for a ‘‘city outsider’’ with limited formal education and social standing to be accepted in elite London circles, and yet Owen’s rise to prominence, both scientifically and socially, was meteoric. He was elected to both the prestigious Anthenaeum Club and the most exclusive Literary Club (The Club), whose 40 members included gentlemen of the highest intellect, wealth, and
Fig 1. Engraving, with Owen holding large femur and wearing robes of the Hunterian Professor, circa 1855. Image courtesy of Wellcome Library, London UK.
status of Victorian London. Several members were Trustees of the Hunterian or the British Museums, and they would be influential political allies. Owen’s scholarly accomplishments, affability, good singing voice, and above-average skills with the flute and cello combined to enhance his station.6 THE DISCOVERY OF THE PARATHYROID GLAND In 1838, Owen dissected the carcass of a recently deceased Indian rhinoceros (Rhinoceros unicornis, L.), although the results went unrecorded. A second opportunity presented on November 19, 1849, when a full-grown, male Indian rhinoceros died in the London Zoo, 15 years after its purchase had been encouraged by Owen himself.7 In a letter to his sister, Owen referred to the animal as ‘‘my ponderous and respectable old friend and client the rhinoceros. I call him ‘client’ because fifteen years ago I patronized him. and he was worth the 1000 guineas demanded for him.’’8 (That cost would be about $125,000 today.)9 During the week
Surgery Volume 159, Number 1
before its demise, the rhinoceros had retched and produced ‘‘bloody and frothy mucus and fluid from the mouth and also from the nose.’’7 Owen’s investigation revealed eventually that a fracture of the posterior aspect of the left seventh rib had resulted in a puncture of the lung, and ‘‘the inflamed bronchial tubes were loaded with bloody frothy serum and mucus. The supposed attempts at vomiting were doubtless efforts to disembarrass the windpipe of the successive accumulations of this fluid; and the death of the animal is to be ascribed to the injury and disease of the left lung consequent of the fracture.’’7 Owen had learned that a large male elephant in the paddock had lifted its head habitually over a fence and compressed the back of the rhinoceros with its tusks, forcing it to the ground. He postulated that the repeated trauma had likely strained the costovertebral ligaments, although he cautioned, ‘‘One cannot, however, attribute to this old injury the immediate cause of the animal’s rapidly fatal malady.’’ Instead, he contended that ‘‘in lying down, (the animal) usually fell heavily on its side, and the rib had probably become fractured on one of these occasions by ‘‘contre-coup’.’’7 Owen dissected meticulously the remains over the course of the winter months, recalling that, contrary to the 2-toed sloth and sea cow but much like the elephant and tapir, the rhinoceros could not ‘‘resist putrefaction’’ and soon lapsed ‘‘into an offensive state of decomposition.’’7 He announced his observations in a lecture to the Zoological Society on February 12, 1850.10 Deep within his report, in the ‘‘Thoracic Viscera’’ section, he mentioned that ‘‘a small compact yellow glandular body was attached to the thyroid at the point where the veins emerge,’’ but he did not speculate about the function of this structure. Although that particular full volume of the Society’s Transactions was not actually released until 1862, Owen’s specific paper was individually published on March 2, 1852, the year when Ivar Victor Sandstr€ om was born, and 3 years before Robert Remak’s similar observaton.8 Sandstr€ om identified these glands in a variety of mammals, including humans, and introduced the term glandulae parathyroideae in 1880. The Hunterian Collection of the Royal College of Surgeons of England preserves Specimen L333.1 from Richard Owen’s dissection of the rhinoceros, although he would never learn before his death that he was credited ultimately with the discovery of the parathyroid gland. PROFESSIONAL EGO Despite outstanding professional successes and high standing in the London social order, Richard
McAneny and Beazley 9
Owen often behaved boorishly and deceitfully. As a Council member of the Royal Zoological Society, Owen had proffered a proviso that granted the Hunterian Professor (himself) first right of refusal to dissect the remains of any animal at the Zoo. This action impacted severely the career of fellow anatomist Professor Robert Edmund Grant (who had tutored Charles Darwin), and it obviously provided the opportunity to explore his client, the Indian rhinoceros. Owen also was forced to apologize to Gideon Mantell after presenting Mantell’s fossil illustrations and plates as his own work. For example, Mantell had discovered a fossil tooth (in 1829) that he used to reconstruct a giant herbivorous species of reptile called the ‘‘Iguanadon,’’ but Owen actually laid claim to that finding. In addition, Mantell had established that 4 different large reptile species had lived in Southeastern England. The Royal Society eventually awarded Mantell the Royal Medal, but only over Owen’s objections. Mantell once observed of Richard Owen that it was ‘‘a pity a man so talented should be so dastardly and envious.’’ Owen is thought to have penned anonymously Mantell’s obituary in 1852, recalling the deceased as a second-rate scientist with few meritorious contributions. Owen maintained his contentious and vindictive conduct and was ostracized gradually in scientific circles, even among some former supporters. In fact, he was forced from the Royal Society’s Zoological Council as a result of plagiarism. Thomas Henry Huxley, having just returned from a 3-year sea voyage in 1850, wrote to a colleague in Australia, ‘‘it is astonishing with what an intense feeling of hatred Owen is regarded by the majority of his contemporaries, with Mantell as the arch-hater. The truth is he is superior of most, and does not conceal that he knows it.’’11 With the publication of Darwin’s On the Origins of Species in November 1859, Owen became consumed by professional jealousy over his former friend’s notoriety. Owen critiqued the theory of evolution under the guise of an unnamed third party: ‘‘that Professor Owen had already pondered these issues and had come to wiser, altogether more philosophical conclusions.’’12 During the subsequent meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, Darwin’s envoy, Thomas Henry Huxley, clashed with the Creationist delegate, Bishop Samuel Wilberforce, an ally of Owen’s. The Bishop of Oxford mocked Huxley, asking him to reveal whether the apes in his family were from his grandfather’s or grandmother’s side of the family. Huxley replied that,
10 McAneny and Beazley
Fig 2. Sir Richard Owen in retirement (1888). Photograph by Herbert Rose Barraud, London UK. Image courtesy of Wellcome Library, London UK.
as for ancestry, he would prefer that of a miserable ape over a man who, although highly endowed and possessed of great influence, would introduce ridicule into such a serious discussion. The British adopted Darwin’s theory that would become a metaphor for the rising Victorian middle class. SECOND CAREER Despite his tarnished reputation among professional peers, Owen continued to climb the hierarchies of London social and political strata. William Buckland, his Christ Church (Oxford) patron, successfully petitioned Prime Minister Sir Robert Peel on Owen’s behalf to obtain a £200 annual pension from her Majesty’s Civil List. Owen regularly graced guest lists that included Prime Minister Peel and his successor, William Gladstone. Notably, Queen Victoria, whose children Owen taught, provided Owen with residence at Sheen Lodge in Richmond Park, where he lived from 1852 until his death. In 1856, Owen left his position at the Royal College of Surgeons to become the Superintendent of Natural History at the British Museum. Within months, he began a campaign to secure
Surgery January 2016
separate accommodations for a dedicated Natural History facility. Efforts intensified with the intercessions of Prime Minister Gladstone, culminating in groundbreaking for the British Museum (Natural History) in 1873. The new museum opened in 1880 with Owen serving as its first superintendent until his retirement in 1883. (Fig 2) Queen Victoria awarded Owen a KCB (Knight Commander of the Bath) honor and a £100 increase in his pension. He spent his remaining years at Sheen Lodge, tending his gardens and wildlife with his grandchildren until his death of ‘‘old age’’ on December 18, 1892. Owen completed 3 large volumes entitled Anatomy of Vertebrates as well as two octavo volumes of John Hunter’s manuscripts, notes, and records. Moreover, he published more than 640 papers, books, and pamphlets throughout his life but was unable to accept Darwin’s Theory of Evolution and some contemporary concepts promulgated by others during his later years. Sir Richard Owen died at the age of 88 years and could not have imagined that his description of the parathyroid glands of his ‘‘ponderous and respectable old friend and client’’---the Indian Rhinoceros---43 years earlier would become one the most memorable moments of his long and truly amazing life. REFERENCES 1. 1856, January 25. The Times. London (UK), p. 6. 2. Cadbury D. Terrible lizard: the first dinosaur hunters and the birth of a new science. New York: Henry Holt; 2000: 130-6. 3. Yanni C. Nature’s museums: Victorian science and the architecture of display. Baltimore (MD): Johns Hopkins University Press; 1999:33. 4. Owen R. Memoir on the pearly nautilus. London: Taylor; 1832. 5. Torrens H. When did the dinosaur get its name? New Sci 1992;134:40-4. 6. Rupke NA. Richard Owen: Victorian naturalist. New Haven (CT): Yale University Press; 1999:55-6. 7. Owen R. On the anatomy of the Indian Rhinoceros (Rh. Unicornis L.). Trans Zool Soc Lond 1862;4:31-58. 8. Cave AJ. Richard Owen and the discovery of the parathyroid glands. In: Underwood EA, editor. Science, medicine and history: essays of the evolution of scientific thought and medical practice, written in honour of Charles Singer. Vol. 2. London (UK): Oxford University Press; 1953. p. 217-22. 9. Felger EA, Zeiger MA. The death of an Indian rhinoceros. World J Surg 2010;34:1805-10. 10. Owen R. The Life of Richard Owen, Vol. 1. London: Murray; 1894. p. 121. 11. Huxley TH. In: Huxley L, editor. Life and letters of Thomas Huxley. New York: Appleton; 1901. p. 101. 12. Browne J. Charles Darwin: The Power of Place, Vol. 2. New York: Alfred A. Knopf; 2002. p. 110-1.
From the Boston University School of Medicine, Boston Medical Center, Boston, MA
MOST ENDOCRINE SURGEONS ARE FAMILIAR WITH THE ‘‘GLANDS OF OWEN,’’ but few know about Sir Richard Owen’s interesting life and professional career. Richard Owen was a 19th-century British surgeon who became a naturalist, anatomist, and internationally respected vertebrate paleontologist. In just his third decade of life, The Times reported that ‘‘there is not a more distinguished man of science in the country’’ than Professor Owen.1 When one considers his modest background, Owen’s professional accomplishments and social ascent were indeed remarkable. EARLY YEARS Richard Owen was born in Lancaster, England, on July 20, 1804, the son of a merchant in the West Indies trade. He attended Lancaster Royal Grammar School, where he was described by one of his tutors ‘‘as lazy and impudent and would come to a bad end.’’2 In 1820, Owen apprenticed to a series of Lancaster surgeons before enrolling at the University of Edinburgh 4 years later. He studied with John Barclay, who taught the perspective of comparative anatomy. Owen realized that although anatomy is essential to understanding surgery and science, it might also be a ‘‘powerful agent for tackling fundamental issues in science: the origin and extinction of species, and the process of Creation itself.’’2 Supported in part by a grant from the Retired Faculty and Staff Society, Boston University. Presented by Robert M. Beazley, MD, at the 36th Annual Meeting of the American Association of Endocrine Surgeons, May 17–19, 2015, Nashville, TN. Accepted for publication August 5, 2015. Reprint requests: David McAneny, MD, FACS, Vice Chair, Department of Surgery, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston Medical Center, FGH Building, Suite 5003, 820 Harrison Avenue, Boston, MA 02118. E-mail: [email protected]. Surgery 2016;159:7-10. 0039-6060/$ - see front matter Ó 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.surg.2015.08.035
He also became aware of the contemporary debate at continental universities between the conventional creationists and the evolutionists. At issue was whether new species were capable of evolving or were all species created either simultaneously or perhaps by a series of events over a period of time? Most British scientists subscribed to Paley’s 1802 Theory of Natural Theology, which had been required reading at the University of Cambridge for nearly 50 years. Paley proposed that the complex structure of living things required an intelligent designer, namely God. At the time ‘‘men of science,’’ mostly trained theologians who lectured at both Cambridge and the University of Oxford, believed commonly that by studying nature, they were ‘‘broadening their knowledge of God.’’3 A CITY LIFE After Owen had spent only 7 months in Edinburgh, Barclay advised him to study surgery in London at St. Bartholomew’s Hospital under the direction of Mr. John Abernethy, then President of the Royal College of Surgeons of England. Abernethy soon charged Owen to prosect during his surgery lectures. By the age of 23, 16 months after arriving in London, Owen had obtained Fellowship in the Royal College of Surgeons. The British Government had purchased John Hunter’s famous anatomical collection in 1799 and had entrusted the Royal College of Surgeons to catalog it. After a 25-year delay, the Government and the editors of The Lancet pressed both the Royal College and Abernethy to complete the registry and to exhibit publicly the 3,700-specimen collection of Hunter’s. Abernethy asked Owen to assist William Clift, conservator of the project and Hunter’s last apprentice, in identifying those specimens lacking labels. Owen’s employment at the Hunterian Museum would extend for 29 years. Baron Georges Cuvier, Professor of Comparative Anatomy at the Museum national d’histoire naturelle in Paris and pioneer of vertebrate paleontology, visited the Hunterian Museum in August 1830 to advance his work on fishes. Because Owen, SURGERY 7
8 McAneny and Beazley
Surgery January 2016
whose mother was of Huguenot descent, was fluent in French, he guided Cuvier during his London stay. Not surprisingly, Cuvier entertained Owen in Paris the following summer. After 2 months, Owen returned to London, enthused by the French system and its superb Mus eum and possibly dreaming of such a venture in Britain. AN IMPRESSIVE START Owen’s first 7 years at the Hunterian Museum were indeed productive. His new membership to the Zoological Society of London provided access to fresh animal carcasses, and he regularly presented papers during Society meetings over the next 5 decades. Owen received a pearly nautilus, an as-yet unreported fossil but similar to other fossils found widely in English marine deposits.4 Memoir on the Pearly Nautilus was his second publication and conveyed election to the Royal Society. Owen was appointed Professor of Comparative Anatomy at St. Bartholomew’s Hospital in 1834. He described the causative agent of Trichinosis using tissue he had received from a medical student later known as Sir James Paget, a founder of the study of pathology. In 1835, Owen married Caroline Clift, daughter of his superior and Hunterian curator, and they took up residence in an apartment at the Royal College. Owen was appointed Hunterian Professor at the Royal College of Surgeons the following year, and he was soon elected to fill Sir Charles Bell’s (of palsy fame) vacated seat as Professor of Anatomy and Physiology at the Royal College (Fig 1). By the end of 1839, Owen had authored 150 papers and 5 descriptive catalogues of the Hunterian Collection, had received a grant from the British Association for the Advancement of Science, and had become a highly respected anatomist, both in Britain and abroad. In 1842, using a combination of paleontology and comparative anatomy to assess the presence of fused sacral vertebrae and mammal-like limb bones in fossils, Owen classified large terrestrial reptiles under a new order that he named Dinosauria, from the Greek words, ‘‘deinos’’ (fearful, terrible, or wondrous) and ‘‘sauros’’ (lizard).5 Richard Owen had been quite productive in science, but he was no less ambitious in London high society. It was rare for a ‘‘city outsider’’ with limited formal education and social standing to be accepted in elite London circles, and yet Owen’s rise to prominence, both scientifically and socially, was meteoric. He was elected to both the prestigious Anthenaeum Club and the most exclusive Literary Club (The Club), whose 40 members included gentlemen of the highest intellect, wealth, and
Fig 1. Engraving, with Owen holding large femur and wearing robes of the Hunterian Professor, circa 1855. Image courtesy of Wellcome Library, London UK.
status of Victorian London. Several members were Trustees of the Hunterian or the British Museums, and they would be influential political allies. Owen’s scholarly accomplishments, affability, good singing voice, and above-average skills with the flute and cello combined to enhance his station.6 THE DISCOVERY OF THE PARATHYROID GLAND In 1838, Owen dissected the carcass of a recently deceased Indian rhinoceros (Rhinoceros unicornis, L.), although the results went unrecorded. A second opportunity presented on November 19, 1849, when a full-grown, male Indian rhinoceros died in the London Zoo, 15 years after its purchase had been encouraged by Owen himself.7 In a letter to his sister, Owen referred to the animal as ‘‘my ponderous and respectable old friend and client the rhinoceros. I call him ‘client’ because fifteen years ago I patronized him. and he was worth the 1000 guineas demanded for him.’’8 (That cost would be about $125,000 today.)9 During the week
Surgery Volume 159, Number 1
before its demise, the rhinoceros had retched and produced ‘‘bloody and frothy mucus and fluid from the mouth and also from the nose.’’7 Owen’s investigation revealed eventually that a fracture of the posterior aspect of the left seventh rib had resulted in a puncture of the lung, and ‘‘the inflamed bronchial tubes were loaded with bloody frothy serum and mucus. The supposed attempts at vomiting were doubtless efforts to disembarrass the windpipe of the successive accumulations of this fluid; and the death of the animal is to be ascribed to the injury and disease of the left lung consequent of the fracture.’’7 Owen had learned that a large male elephant in the paddock had lifted its head habitually over a fence and compressed the back of the rhinoceros with its tusks, forcing it to the ground. He postulated that the repeated trauma had likely strained the costovertebral ligaments, although he cautioned, ‘‘One cannot, however, attribute to this old injury the immediate cause of the animal’s rapidly fatal malady.’’ Instead, he contended that ‘‘in lying down, (the animal) usually fell heavily on its side, and the rib had probably become fractured on one of these occasions by ‘‘contre-coup’.’’7 Owen dissected meticulously the remains over the course of the winter months, recalling that, contrary to the 2-toed sloth and sea cow but much like the elephant and tapir, the rhinoceros could not ‘‘resist putrefaction’’ and soon lapsed ‘‘into an offensive state of decomposition.’’7 He announced his observations in a lecture to the Zoological Society on February 12, 1850.10 Deep within his report, in the ‘‘Thoracic Viscera’’ section, he mentioned that ‘‘a small compact yellow glandular body was attached to the thyroid at the point where the veins emerge,’’ but he did not speculate about the function of this structure. Although that particular full volume of the Society’s Transactions was not actually released until 1862, Owen’s specific paper was individually published on March 2, 1852, the year when Ivar Victor Sandstr€ om was born, and 3 years before Robert Remak’s similar observaton.8 Sandstr€ om identified these glands in a variety of mammals, including humans, and introduced the term glandulae parathyroideae in 1880. The Hunterian Collection of the Royal College of Surgeons of England preserves Specimen L333.1 from Richard Owen’s dissection of the rhinoceros, although he would never learn before his death that he was credited ultimately with the discovery of the parathyroid gland. PROFESSIONAL EGO Despite outstanding professional successes and high standing in the London social order, Richard
McAneny and Beazley 9
Owen often behaved boorishly and deceitfully. As a Council member of the Royal Zoological Society, Owen had proffered a proviso that granted the Hunterian Professor (himself) first right of refusal to dissect the remains of any animal at the Zoo. This action impacted severely the career of fellow anatomist Professor Robert Edmund Grant (who had tutored Charles Darwin), and it obviously provided the opportunity to explore his client, the Indian rhinoceros. Owen also was forced to apologize to Gideon Mantell after presenting Mantell’s fossil illustrations and plates as his own work. For example, Mantell had discovered a fossil tooth (in 1829) that he used to reconstruct a giant herbivorous species of reptile called the ‘‘Iguanadon,’’ but Owen actually laid claim to that finding. In addition, Mantell had established that 4 different large reptile species had lived in Southeastern England. The Royal Society eventually awarded Mantell the Royal Medal, but only over Owen’s objections. Mantell once observed of Richard Owen that it was ‘‘a pity a man so talented should be so dastardly and envious.’’ Owen is thought to have penned anonymously Mantell’s obituary in 1852, recalling the deceased as a second-rate scientist with few meritorious contributions. Owen maintained his contentious and vindictive conduct and was ostracized gradually in scientific circles, even among some former supporters. In fact, he was forced from the Royal Society’s Zoological Council as a result of plagiarism. Thomas Henry Huxley, having just returned from a 3-year sea voyage in 1850, wrote to a colleague in Australia, ‘‘it is astonishing with what an intense feeling of hatred Owen is regarded by the majority of his contemporaries, with Mantell as the arch-hater. The truth is he is superior of most, and does not conceal that he knows it.’’11 With the publication of Darwin’s On the Origins of Species in November 1859, Owen became consumed by professional jealousy over his former friend’s notoriety. Owen critiqued the theory of evolution under the guise of an unnamed third party: ‘‘that Professor Owen had already pondered these issues and had come to wiser, altogether more philosophical conclusions.’’12 During the subsequent meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, Darwin’s envoy, Thomas Henry Huxley, clashed with the Creationist delegate, Bishop Samuel Wilberforce, an ally of Owen’s. The Bishop of Oxford mocked Huxley, asking him to reveal whether the apes in his family were from his grandfather’s or grandmother’s side of the family. Huxley replied that,
10 McAneny and Beazley
Fig 2. Sir Richard Owen in retirement (1888). Photograph by Herbert Rose Barraud, London UK. Image courtesy of Wellcome Library, London UK.
as for ancestry, he would prefer that of a miserable ape over a man who, although highly endowed and possessed of great influence, would introduce ridicule into such a serious discussion. The British adopted Darwin’s theory that would become a metaphor for the rising Victorian middle class. SECOND CAREER Despite his tarnished reputation among professional peers, Owen continued to climb the hierarchies of London social and political strata. William Buckland, his Christ Church (Oxford) patron, successfully petitioned Prime Minister Sir Robert Peel on Owen’s behalf to obtain a £200 annual pension from her Majesty’s Civil List. Owen regularly graced guest lists that included Prime Minister Peel and his successor, William Gladstone. Notably, Queen Victoria, whose children Owen taught, provided Owen with residence at Sheen Lodge in Richmond Park, where he lived from 1852 until his death. In 1856, Owen left his position at the Royal College of Surgeons to become the Superintendent of Natural History at the British Museum. Within months, he began a campaign to secure
Surgery January 2016
separate accommodations for a dedicated Natural History facility. Efforts intensified with the intercessions of Prime Minister Gladstone, culminating in groundbreaking for the British Museum (Natural History) in 1873. The new museum opened in 1880 with Owen serving as its first superintendent until his retirement in 1883. (Fig 2) Queen Victoria awarded Owen a KCB (Knight Commander of the Bath) honor and a £100 increase in his pension. He spent his remaining years at Sheen Lodge, tending his gardens and wildlife with his grandchildren until his death of ‘‘old age’’ on December 18, 1892. Owen completed 3 large volumes entitled Anatomy of Vertebrates as well as two octavo volumes of John Hunter’s manuscripts, notes, and records. Moreover, he published more than 640 papers, books, and pamphlets throughout his life but was unable to accept Darwin’s Theory of Evolution and some contemporary concepts promulgated by others during his later years. Sir Richard Owen died at the age of 88 years and could not have imagined that his description of the parathyroid glands of his ‘‘ponderous and respectable old friend and client’’---the Indian Rhinoceros---43 years earlier would become one the most memorable moments of his long and truly amazing life. REFERENCES 1. 1856, January 25. The Times. London (UK), p. 6. 2. Cadbury D. Terrible lizard: the first dinosaur hunters and the birth of a new science. New York: Henry Holt; 2000: 130-6. 3. Yanni C. Nature’s museums: Victorian science and the architecture of display. Baltimore (MD): Johns Hopkins University Press; 1999:33. 4. Owen R. Memoir on the pearly nautilus. London: Taylor; 1832. 5. Torrens H. When did the dinosaur get its name? New Sci 1992;134:40-4. 6. Rupke NA. Richard Owen: Victorian naturalist. New Haven (CT): Yale University Press; 1999:55-6. 7. Owen R. On the anatomy of the Indian Rhinoceros (Rh. Unicornis L.). Trans Zool Soc Lond 1862;4:31-58. 8. Cave AJ. Richard Owen and the discovery of the parathyroid glands. In: Underwood EA, editor. Science, medicine and history: essays of the evolution of scientific thought and medical practice, written in honour of Charles Singer. Vol. 2. London (UK): Oxford University Press; 1953. p. 217-22. 9. Felger EA, Zeiger MA. The death of an Indian rhinoceros. World J Surg 2010;34:1805-10. 10. Owen R. The Life of Richard Owen, Vol. 1. London: Murray; 1894. p. 121. 11. Huxley TH. In: Huxley L, editor. Life and letters of Thomas Huxley. New York: Appleton; 1901. p. 101. 12. Browne J. Charles Darwin: The Power of Place, Vol. 2. New York: Alfred A. Knopf; 2002. p. 110-1.