1 8 LIFE OF FLOWER 



same time he pointed out that the new doctrine in no 

 wise detracted from the position of the Divine Ruler of 

 the world as the controller, and indeed the originator, 

 of animal development. 



Shortly after his retirement from the post of Con- 

 servator, Professor Flower was elected a Trustee of the 

 Hunterian Collection of the Royal College of Surgeons. 

 Many years later, in 1 88 1, he became a Trustee of Sir 

 John Soane's Museum, in Lincoln's Inn Fields. 



Mention has already been made of the fact that in an 

 early stage of his career Sir William became an M.B. of 

 London, and that later on he was elected to the Fellow- 

 ship of the Royal College of Surgeons. In addition to 

 these professional qualifications, he was also the recipient 

 of honorary degrees from the two elder Universities. 

 Thus in 1891 he was made a D.C.L. of Oxford, the 

 public orator of the University, when the degree was 

 conferred, acclaiming him as a living proof of the truth 

 of the old saying, dp^yj avdpa. dei%ti, attributed to one of 

 the seven wise men of Greece, and as a man who had 

 passed with increasing distinction from one important 

 official post to another ; and he was likewise a D.Sc. of 

 Cambridge. But this by no means exhausts the list 

 of his academic honours, Edinburgh, St. Andrews, and 

 Trinity College, Dublin, claiming him on their roll of 

 honorary LL.D.'s, while in 1889 he received from 

 Durham the degree of D.C.L. The Edinburgh degree, 

 it may be mentioned, was conferred on the occasion of 

 the celebration of the tercentenary of the University. 

 Sir William was also a Ph.D. 



Nor were Flower's conspicuous services to zoological 

 science suffered to remain unrecognised by the Govern- 



