1 4 LIFE OF FLOWER 



important societies connected with the branches of 

 biological study in which he was specially interested. 



Of the Royal Society Sir William was elected a 

 Fellow in 1864 at the relatively early age of thirty- 

 three and he served on the Council of that body for 

 three separate periods, namely from 1868 to 1870, from 

 1876 to 1878, and again from 1884 to 1886, while in 

 1884 and 1885 he was one of the Vice-Presidents. In 

 1882 his conspicuous services to zoological science was 

 recognised by the bestowal upon him of a Royal Gold 

 Medal one of the most honourable distinctions in the 

 gift of the Society ; the other recipient in the same year 

 of a similar honour being Lord Rayleigh. In handing to 

 Professor Flower this medal, the President dwelt upon 

 the value of his contributions to both zoology and an- 

 thropology, referring, in connection with the former 

 science, to his paper on the classification of the Carnivora, 

 and, in respect to the latter, to the then recently pub- 

 lished first part of the "Catalogue of Osteological 

 Specimens in the Museum of the Royal College of Sur- 

 geons," in which descriptions and measurements of 

 between 1 300 and 1400 human skulls are recorded. The 

 present writer has been informed that Flower refused 

 to be nominated for the Presidentship of the Royal 

 Society, owing to the fear that the calls made upon his 

 time by that office would interfere with his official duties. 

 Of the Zoological Society Professor Flower became a 

 Fellow so long ago as the year 1851, that is to say, 

 three years previous to the commencement of his Crimean 

 service. After serving for several periods on the Council 

 he was elected to the honourable (and honorary) office 

 of President on the death of the Marquis of Tweeddale 



