Owen occupied an entirely untenable position—­but I am nevertheless surprised he did not try “abusing plaintiff’s attorney.”  The fact is he made a prodigious blunder in commencing the attack, and now his only chance is to be silent and let people forget the exposure.  I do not believe that in the whole history of science there is a case of any man of reputation getting himself into such a contemptible position.  He will be the laughing-stock of all the continental anatomists.

Rolleston has a great deal of Oxford slough to shed, but on that very ground his testimony has been of most especial service.  Fancy that man —­ telling Maskelyne that Rolleston’s observations were entirely confirmatory of Owen.

[About the same time he writes to his wife:—­]

April 16.

People are talking a good deal about the “Man and the Apes” question, and I hear that somebody, I suspect Monckton-Milnes, has set afloat a poetical squib on the subject...

[The squib in question, dated “the Zoological Gardens,” and signed “Gorilla,” appeared in “Punch” for May 15, 1861, under a picture of that animal, bearing the sign, “Am I a Man and a Brother?”

The concluding verses run as follows: 

  Next Huxley replies
  That Owen he lies
  And garbles his Latin quotation;
  That his facts are not new,
  His mistakes not a few,
  Detrimental to his reputation.

  “To twice slay the slain”
  By dint of the Brain
  (Thus Huxley concludes his review),
  Is but labour in vain,
  Unproductive of gain,
  And so I shall bid you “Adieu!”]

Some think my winding-up too strong, but I trust the day will never come when I shall abstain from expressing my contempt for those who prostitute Science to the Service of Error.  At any rate I am not old enough for that yet.  Darwin came in just now.  I get no scoldings for pitching into the common enemy now!!

I would give you fifty guesses [he writes to Hooker on April 30], and you should not find out the author of the “Punch” poem.  I saw it in Ms. three weeks ago, and was told the author was a friend of mine.  But I remained hopelessly in the dark till yesterday.  What do you say to Sir Philip Egerton coming out in that line?  I am told he is the author, and the fact speaks volumes for Owen’s perfect success in damning himself.

[In the midst of the fight came a surprising invitation.  On April 10 he writes to his wife:—­]

They have written to me from the Philosophical Institute of Edinburgh to ask me to give two lectures on the “Relation of Man to the Lower Animals” next session.  I have replied that if they can give me January 3 and 7 for lecture days I will do it—­if not, not.  Fancy unco guid Edinburgh requiring illumination on the subject!  They know my views, so if they did not like what I have to tell them, it is their own fault.