22 LIFE OF FLOWER 



As regards the closing scenes of his life, a very few 

 words must suffice. For the last two years of his 

 existence he had evidently been in failing health, largely 

 due to his incessant exertions and from his refusal 

 to spare himself, even when warned of the absolute 

 necessity of so doing by his medical adviser. In 

 August 1898, after a long period during which he had 

 been compelled to devote little or no attention to his 

 official duties, he placed his resignation of the Director- 

 ship of the Museum in the hands of the Trustees. The 

 aforesaid sojourn at San Remo during the following 

 winter effected some slight temporary improvement in 

 his health, but on his return to London, in May 1899, lt 

 was painfully apparent that his constitution never too 

 robust was shattered beyond hope of permanent 

 recovery. And, after a slight temporary rally, from his 

 malady of heart-failure, a sharp relapse occurred on 

 Thursday, 29th June, followed by pneumonia, and on 

 Saturday, 1st July, Sir William Flower passed peacefully 

 away, at the age of sixty-seven years, at his residence, 

 26 Stanhope Gardens, London. 



A memorial service was held on the following 

 Wednesday at St. Luke's Church, Sidney Street, Chelsea, 

 which was attended by a large and sympathetic congre- 

 gation of friends and scientific men, including Sir 

 Edward Maunde Thompson, the Chief Librarian and 

 Director of the British Museum, and Professor E. Ray 

 Lankester, Sir William's successor in the Directorship of 

 the Natural History Branch of the same. 



Sir William was undoubtedly a man of high and 

 noble character, endeared to all with whom he was 

 brought into intimate relations by his unfailing courtesy 



