Ill APPOINTED CONSERVATOR 51 



his family, even had he not been destined to reach 

 later a post of greater emolument. But his case 

 is an instance of the favourable effect, as regards 

 the choice of a life's work, which a considerable 

 independence in prospect, and the encouragement 

 which it gives, may have on a scientific career. 

 There were nearly fifty candidates for the post of 

 Curator to the Hunterian Museum, of whom Flower 

 was the youngest. But he received the warm sup- 

 port not only of leaders of the medical profession, 

 like his friend James Paget, but of men of pure 

 science, and especially of Professor Huxley. On 

 Thursday, December 19, 1861, he was unanimously 

 elected by the Council of the Royal College of 

 Surgeons to be Conservator of the Museum, and 

 received notice to attend on the following Tuesday, 

 which was Christmas Eve, to be formally admitted 

 to the office. On New Year's Day 1862 he started 

 from Queen Anne Street to take up his new post, 

 in which he remained engaged successfully and 

 happily for the next twenty-two years. 



