38 LIFE OF FLOWER 



comparative anatomy of the mammalian liver. These 

 and other kindred subjects may, however, better be con- 

 sidered at greater length in a later chapter. It must 

 suffice therefore, to add in this connection that during 

 Flower's term of office the unrivalled series of human 

 skeletons and skulls underwent a very marked and im- 

 portant increase. 



By no means the least important part of Flower's work 

 in connection with the museum of the College of Sur- 

 geons was the compilation and publication of the 

 first two volumes of the Catalogue of Qsteological Sped- 

 mens the first, dealing with man alone, issued in 

 1879, anc * the second, written with the aid of his 

 assistant, Dr. J. G. Garson, and treating of the other 

 members of the mammalian class, in 1884. The import- 

 ance of these works consists in the fact of their being a 

 very great deal more than mere catalogues of the contents 

 of one particular museum. They are, on the contrary, 

 systematic treatises, embodying the views of their chief 

 author on such important subjects as zoological nomen- 

 clature and classification, and on the best method of 

 arranging museums which include specimens of the den- 

 tition and osteology of both living and extinct animals. 

 They accordingly deserve notice at some considerable 

 length, not only on this account, but as forming a record 

 of the great changes Flower introduced into the museum 

 at this period under his charge. 



It appears that the first printed list of the contents 

 of the museum was published in the year 1831. In a 

 few years, however, it became evident that a work of a 

 more ambitious nature was required; and in January 

 1842, the then Conservator, Professor Owen, presented 



