LIFE OF FLOWER 91 



Society ; and although the management was to a very 

 great extent in the hands of the Secretary, Dr. P. L. 

 Sclater, yet in matters of extreme importance the 

 influence and opinions of the president always made 

 themselves felt the more so, perhaps, that they were not 

 in special evidence in the case of trivial matters. In the 

 early eighties the Society suffered severely from financial 

 depression, its income in the years 1883 and 1884 

 falling far below its expenditure. Thanks, however, 

 to the patient sagacity and great administrative powers 

 of the president and secretary, the affairs of the Society 

 were soon put on a much more satisfactory basis, and 

 long before the death of the former, a state of prosperity 

 was reached which had seldom, if ever, been equalled, 

 and certainly never excelled. 



In the first year of his presidency, Flower delivered 

 one of the Davis lectures in the Society's Gardens, the 

 subject being birds that do not fly, and he also lectured 

 in the two following years, selecting as his subjects in 

 1 88 1 firstly whales, and secondly dolphins. The 

 following year was notable on account of the sale to 

 the great American showman, Barnum, of the African 

 elephant " Jumbo." The reason for thus parting with 

 a valuable and interesting animal was that it was 

 unsafe to keep it in the gardens any longer. The sale, 

 as stated in the " Record" of the Society, caused a good 

 deal of public excitement, but the Council would not 

 have parted with the animal unless satisfactory reasons 

 for so doing had been laid before it by the responsible 

 Executive of the Gardens. 



A still more important event occurred in 1883, namely 

 the transference of the Society's Offices and Library from 



