LIFE OF FLOWER 47 



no post could have been better adapted to the man or 

 the man to the post. With many and varied lines of 

 study lying conveniently around him, in the quietude 

 of an office less conspicuous and exacting than the 

 British Museum, in the full vigour of manhood, and in 

 the midst of sympathetic seniors, friends, and assistants, 

 it can well be imagined that Sir William's powers 

 attained great development, and that perhaps he 

 never felt so full of happiness and satisfaction with his 

 original work. It could not well be otherwise. His 

 conscientious devotion to duty, his remarkable skill 

 in devising methods of mounting, his artistic eye, his 

 tact with subordinates, and the esteem in which he was 

 held by zoologists and comparative anatomists at home 

 and abroad, give a clue to his subsequent career, 

 and show the training of one of the most accomplished 

 and courtly comparative anatomists our country has 

 produced." 



But there was another side to Flower's work during 

 the greater part of his official connection with the Royal 

 College of Surgeons, and one which brought him into 

 wider and closer contact with the public than was the 

 case with his Conservatorship. This was the delivery 

 of the lectures which form the chief, if not the sole, 

 duty of the Hunterian Professor. According to the 

 statutes of the College, the annual course of lectures, 

 which is short, must be on a different subject each year, 

 but must in all cases be illustrated by preparations in 

 the museum. 



The present writer was privileged to attend only 

 one of these courses on the general structure of the 

 Mammalia and is therefore not competent to speak 



