V METHOD NON-CONTROVERSIAL 67 



day. It explains, apart from attraction of character 

 and sympathy of pursuits, the steady and lasting 

 regard in which he was held by Sir Charles Lyell, 

 Charles Darwin, Professor Huxley, Professor 

 Rolleston, Sir Joseph Hooker, Lord Lister, and 

 Sir James Paget, and accounts for the conviction 

 of such bodies as the Trustees of the Royal College 

 of Surgeons, and later of the Trustees of the British 

 Museum, that there was a '* something " in what he 

 did which was absolutely the best, and could not be 

 replaced. The terms in which each of these bodies 

 expressed themselves when Flower relinquished the 

 work in which he had been engaged go beyond 

 anything which even a warm and hearty apprecia- 

 tion of services rendered usually elicits from the 

 necessary reserve and caution of responsible control. 

 The documents will be found in their due place in 

 these pages. 



Another aspect of the work done should not be 

 omitted in any effort to appreciate now what was 

 done then. Flower's contribution was not only 

 positive, but non-controversial. The facts and story 

 he set out convinced without speaking. The library 

 of natural volumes grew and grew. Any one could 

 consult them. But they neither argued nor tried 

 to prove a point. At the same time they offered 

 themselves ungrudgingly for cross-examination and 

 consultation, for genuine inquirers to form their 

 own conclusions from. This was particularly valu- 

 able in the earlier days, when attention was some- 



