Sir Richard Owen (1804-1892), comparative anatomist, colleague and later antagonist of Darwin, and head of the British Museum (Natural History), was a major figure in Victorian science, and one of the least well known. Historians of science have found Owen a difficult subject, partly because he seldom wrote at length about his theories of the nature of life. However, his contemporaries Darwin, Lyell, Grant, Huxley, and others certainly knew his ideas and agreed or argued with him while developing their own views.
Now, for the first time, modern readers may consult the single sustained...

English anatomist and biologist Richard Owen (1804 92), who in 1842 coined the word 'dinosaur', published this book in 1859, the year of On the Origin of Species. He reviews ancient and recent studies of mammals in Western science before going on to present his own updated categorisation of the class. Owen's eye for detail and range of scholarship are evident in this work, which is an extensive catalogue of mammals based on biological, geographical and anatomical characteristics. It incorporates, among other things, detailed classifications and sub-classifications of genus based on dental...