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THE LATE SIR WILLIAM HF.NRY FLOWER. 



ment to the British Museum) also succeeded him in the Hunterian Pro- 

 fessorship, retaining; both positions and residing at the College in Lincolns 

 Inn Fields, until in 1S84, after 22 years, he again followed in the track of 

 Sir Richard Owen, as Director of the Natural History Museum at South 

 Kensington. 



Professor Flower married in 1858 a daughter of Admiral Smyth, F.R.S., 

 Hydrographer to the Navy, by whom he leaves a numerous family, His 

 eldest son, Stanley, named after and christened by the late Dean Stanley, 

 who was an intimate friend of Flowers, is now Conservator of the Zoological 

 Gardens in Cairo. 



Many honours were conferred upon him. He was elected a Fellow of 

 the Zoological Society in 1851, of the Royal Society in 1864, receiving their 

 Gold Medal in 1882 ; and on the Jubilee of the Queen was appointed C.B., and 

 a Knight of the Order in 1892. 



Sir William was essentially (to quote his own phrase) a " Museum-man." 

 Even as a youth he made Collections which were all carefully arranged, 

 labelled, and catalogued ; as he graphically described in an article in 

 Chambers's Journal (April, 1897), entitled— " Natural History as a Vocation." 



Thus by nature orderly and careful in all things he well fulfilled in public 

 life the well-known aphorism of Goethe — "Ohne hast, ohne rast," and 

 during his whole career that was the secret of his success in all he undertook. 

 In him the rare combination of knowledge and scientific capacity, with perfect 

 courtesy and business tact were well displayed. At all times, whether in the 

 Professorial Chair or amid the varied duties of Museum work, either at the 

 Royal College (where the writer first made his acquaintance), or at South 

 Kensington, his careful, methodical, and patient work was ever faithfully 

 performed and merited unstinted praise 



But the strain involved in the management and arrangement of the Natural 

 History Museum, which was by no means an idle task to such a worker, proved 

 at last too great for his physical strength, which had always suffered from his 

 experiences in the Crimea. The collapse came suddenly, and he was com- 

 pelled, though reluctantly enough, to tender his resignation and withdraw 

 from all active work, in August, 1898. After wintering in San Remo, he 

 returned to London in May ; but his health gradually weakened to the end. 



Before his connection with the Museum ceased, however, he had one 

 great source of gratification. For many j'ears he had persistently urged upon 

 the Trustees, and through them the Treasury, the necessity of a suitable room 

 for the display of the larger Cetaceans ; but without effect. This desire was 

 fulfilled, during the last two years of his service, by the erection of a large 

 building, in which he arranged the principal typical forms ; and the " Whale 

 Gallery " was opened, much to his satisfaction a little while before his 

 resignation ; he having thus accomplished what his predecessor. Sir 

 Richard Owen, declared to be " the dream of his life." 



For over twenty years he was President of the Zoological Society, having 

 been first elected in 1879. During this time, save for the last twelve months, 

 when his health and sojourn abroad forbad, he was rarely absent from the 

 Council meetings or the Evening Scientific gatherings ; and the more active 

 I'ellows are fully aware how through those years his help and influence not 



