46 LIFE OF FLOWER 



tends to render zoology, which ought to be one of the 

 most attractive and delightful of all sciences (and it was 

 one of Flower's endeavours to make it as much so as 

 possible), repulsive and distasteful. 



The present writers opportunities of intercourse 

 with Professor Flower during his tenure of the Conser- 

 vatorship of the Museum of the College of Surgeons 

 were but few and intermittent, and restricted to the 

 latter part of that time, he may therefore be pardoned 

 for quoting from a biographer who appears to have 

 enjoyed more favourable opportunities in this respect. 

 Before doing so, however, the writer cannot refrain 

 from putting it on record that his own appointment to 

 the Geological Survey of India in the early seventies 

 was largely due to the influence of Professor Flower, 

 who had been his examiner in the Natural Science 

 Tripos at Cambridge, in December 1871. 



To revert to the subject of Flower's personality 

 in connection with his appointment in Lincoln's Inn 

 Fields, his biographer in the " Year-Book " of the Royal 

 Society for 1901 writes as follows : 



"His tenure of office, viz., twenty-two years, as 

 Conservator of the museum of the Royal College of 

 Surgeons, was a splendid record of original and laborious 

 work, of great administrative capacity, and of unvarying 

 courtesy to visitors. The museum was most popular 

 under his management. There, amidst the almost 

 unrivalled collections, the tall, fair-haired, and earnest 

 worker was daily to be found, minutely studying, 

 comparing and measuring, or giving directions for the 

 extension, arrangement, and classification of the varied 

 and valuable contents. From a scientific point of view 



