Sir William Flower. 73 



the army in the Criinean winters, will not be surprised to find these 

 sketches include his own tent blown over in the snow-storm of 14th 

 November, 1854, and another of the prostrate tents of the camp 

 towards the conclusion of the storm. The hospital at Scutari, a large 

 panorama of Constantinople, and many other subjects proved his 

 capacity to wield, with equal skill, both brush and scalpel. While 

 he as a general rule, and with the eye of the anatomist, devoted great 

 attention to form, yet from early days he was no stranger to sketches 

 in water-colour. 



His health, however, was seriously affected by bis service in the 

 Crimea, and he retired from the Army on his return to London. With 

 the view of practising as a surgeon, he became Assistant-Surgeon, 

 Demonstrator of Anatomy and Curator of the Museum in Middlesex 

 Hospital, posts not uncongenial to the methodical and painstaking 

 comparative anatomist, who utilized his opportunities in preparing his 

 first work, viz : " Diagrams of the Nerves of the Human Body, " 

 with six plates, the nerves having the names printed on them, and their 

 distribution being clearly outlined. This work proved very useful to 

 physiologists, students, and medical men. He also contributed an 

 article on " Injuries of the Upper Extremities " to Holme's ' System 

 of Surgery.' Two of his early zoological papers, viz. : "Notes on the 

 Dissection of a Galago, " and " On the Posterior Lobes of the Cerebrum 

 of the Quadrumana, " also pertain to this period. 



There is no doubt that the breathing space thus afforded, allowed 

 him time to collect his energies and gather up a store of valuable in- 

 formation for utilizing subsequently. Moreover, it was during this 

 period of his career that he married in 1858, at the Church of Stone, 

 near her home in Buckinghamshire, Georgiana Rosetta, youngest 

 daughter of the late Admiral W. H Smyth, K.S.I., D.C.L., F.R.S., 

 who served the Society as Foreign Secretary, and was often on its 

 Council. This step in Flower's history had an important bearing on 

 his future success, for constant contact with such relatives as the dis- 

 tinguished officer just mentioned, with Sir Warrington Smyth, F.R.S., 

 Professor Piazzi Smyth, General Sir Henry Smyth, Rev. Baden-Powell, 

 and others could not but tend to shape the career of the young com- 

 parative anatomist. A tour with his wife through Belgium and along 

 the Rhine, made a pleasant holiday at this period. 



The bent of his mind, as his friends Professor Huxley, Mr. George 

 Busk and others perceived, was towards Comparative Anatomy, and 

 he soon (1861) received a congenial appointment as Conservator of the 

 Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons, a post rendered vacant by 

 the death of Mr. Queckett, who had devoted much time and labour to 

 microscopical researches in the Museum. Here in the midst of speci- 

 mens, rendered historical by the labours of John Hunter and Richard 

 Owen, and of new and important specimens added under his guardian- 



