NATURAL SCIENCE 
A Monthly Review of Scientific Progress 
No. 78—Vo.t. XIIJI—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 otfered 
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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