NATURAL SCIENCE 



A Monthly Review of Scientific Progress 



No. 78— Vol. XIII— AUGUST 1898 



NOTES AND COMMENTS 



Sir William Flower 



In consequence of failing health, Sir William Flower has found it 

 necessary to resign his position as Director of the Natural History 

 Branch of the British Museum. Both the cause of the resignation 

 and the resignation itself will be deeply regretted by all naturalists 

 in this country and abroad. In the charming volume of Essays, 

 reviewed on another page of this number, Sir William tells us how 

 he has been, from childhood upwards, a museum man. With the 

 great expansion that followed on the removal of the natural history 

 collections from Bloomsbury to South Kensington, Sir William found 

 his opportunity, and he has availed himself of it to the full. To 

 his staff he has been an inspiration and an example. Not one, not 

 even the youngest, of his energetic and enthusiastic helpers can be 

 said to have shown a more open mind, more desirous of proving all 

 things and holding fast to that which was best for the display and 

 arrangement of those wonderful collections. But there are other 

 ways in which the head of an important institution of the State can 

 make his influence felt, and Sir William's zeal for his Museum was 

 never at rest. To urge the claims of the establishment on an un- 

 willing Treasury, or (yet harder task) to extract sympathy from the 

 ranks of power, wealth, and fashion, these formed the employment 

 of what might have been his leisure hours. The high standing of 

 our Natural History Museum, as well as the improvement in the 

 character and position of its staff, are largely due to his personal 

 exertions. This, we rejoice to see, has been heartily recognised by 

 the Trustees, and the " sincere good wishes " which they have offered 

 through Lord Dillon, as chairman of the Standing Committee, will 

 be shared by the many who have, in one way or another, come into 

 contact with Sir William Flower. 



The Directorship of the Natural History Museum 



The question of Sir William Flower's successor has for some time 

 past exercised the minds of British naturalists, and the names of 

 many more or less eminent men have been mentioned in that con- 



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