232 SIR WILLIAM FLOWER CHAP. 



gracious permission for Sir William Flower to wear 

 the insignia of the order. 



This spring he was re-elected President of the 

 Zoological Society for the twentieth year ; he had 

 often desired to resign, but the Council would not 

 hear of it, a mark of consideration which touched 

 him deeply. 



However, in June he made the most important 

 resignation, that of the directorship of the Natural 

 History Museum. This was a severe wrench, for 

 he loved the Museum and all its interests keenly, 

 but as the palpitations of the heart increased in 

 frequency and in duration he feared not being able 

 to do full justice in his work, and so sent in his 

 resignation to the Trustees, though he still con- 

 tinued to work there whenever health allowed. 



On June 15 he was able to show the new 

 Whale Room to Lord Kelvin and a party of friends, 

 who were all astonished and delighted with this 

 original display of the Cetacea "in their habit as 

 they lived," with their actual skeletons as well, thus 

 preserving exactly their dimensions as well as other 

 characteristics. Again on July i he conducted 

 friends over the Museum. A pathetic interest is 

 attached to this meeting as the last of the kind, 

 after many years, in which these gatherings had 

 been one of his special pleasures in life. Those 

 present were the Minister for the Netherlands, 

 Baron Van Goltstein, the Danish Minister, M. de 

 Bille, Lord Ludlow and Lady Hanham, the Mar- 



