CHAP. VIII HUNTERIAN PROFESSORSHIP loi 



In 1864 Flower was elected a Fellow of the 

 Royal Society, on the Council of which he several 

 times served, and of which he was Vice-President 

 twenty years later. *' My dear Darwin," Huxley 

 wrote on January 18, 1864, " I have had no news of 

 you for a long time, but I reasonably hope you are 

 better. Have you any objection to putting your 

 name to Flower's certificate for the Royal Society 

 herewith enclosed ? It will please him much if you 

 will ; and I will go bail for his being a thoroughly 

 good man in all senses of the word, which, as you 

 know, is more than I would say for everybody." 

 Five years later Huxley, whose tenure of the office 

 of Hunterian Lecturer while Flower was "Con- 

 servator " of the Museum had increased the friendly 

 regard and mutual respect of the two in no common 

 degree, wrote to him from Jermyn Street, June 7 : — 



Private^ Confidential, Particular. 



My dear Flower — I have written to Quain to tell him that 

 I do not propose to be put in nomination for the Hunterian 

 Chair this year. I really cannot stand it, with the British 

 Association hanging over my head. So make thy shoulders 

 ready for the gown, and practise the goose step in order to 

 march properly behind the Mace, and I will come and hear your 

 inaugural. — Ever yours, T. H. Huxley. 



The choice of the Council fell on Flower, as 

 Huxley had anticipated. What occurred is told in 

 the following letter to his mother : — 



Now I must tell you something about myself. You probably 

 know that when the Hunterian Museum was placed by the 

 Government in the care of the College of Surgeons, one of the 



