August 21, 1903.] 



SCIENCE. 



249 



the orbits was 9 ft., 3 in.; the length of the 

 jaws was 20 ft. along the outer curve, while 

 the combined weight of cranium and jaws 

 was four tons. 



The approximate weight of a specimen of 

 this size, as determined by Mr. S. C. Ruck, are 

 as foUows: 



Pounds. 



Weight of bones 17,920 



Weight of blubber 17,920 



Weight of flesh 89,600 



Weight of whalebone, including the 



attached gum 1,750 



Weight of viscera and blood, esti- 

 mated 13,440 



Total 140,630 



or not far from 63 tons. F. A. L. 



MEMORIAL TO SIR WILLIAM FLOWER.' 

 My Lord Archhlshop, Ladies and Gentlemen: 



The late Sir William Flower, formerly di- 

 rector of this museum, was one of my oldest 

 and most intimate friends. It was, therefore, 

 with great pleasure that I agreed to the re- 

 quest of the Flower Memorial Committee to 

 say a few words on the occasion of the pre- 

 sentation to the trustees of the bust of the 

 late director. 



The bust which, as you will presently see, 

 so well represents the kindly countenance of 

 our deceased friend, is the work of Mr. Thomas 

 Brock, R.A., and no one, I think, will deny 

 that the talented artist has achieved a re- 

 markable success in producing it. But be- 

 fore formally presenting it I may venture to 

 say a few words about him whose memory 

 we seek to honor on the present occasion, and 

 about the excellent scientific work which he 

 performed. 



Bom in 1831, Flower was a member of a 

 well-known family of Stratford-on-Avon, and, 

 showing remarkable taste for natural history 

 in his early youth, was educated for the medi- 

 cal profession. He graduated at the Uni- 

 versity of London in 1851 and became a mem- 

 ber of the Royal College of Surgeons the 



* Full text of Dr. Sclater's address on the 

 occasion of the presentation of a bust of the late 

 Sir William Flower to the trustees of the British 

 Museum, July 25, 1902. 



same year. In 1852 he read a paper to the 

 Zoological Society on the structure of a spe- 

 cies of Lemur, the first of a long series of 

 communications to that society which con- 

 tinued for forty-five years. 



In 1854, on the Crimean War breaking out. 

 Flower joined the Army Medical Staff, and 

 was present at the battles of Alma, Balaclava 

 and Inkerman, and at the capture of Sevas- 

 topool, and afterwards did good work in the 

 British Hospital at Scutari, in acknowledg- 

 ment of which he received the Crimean medals. 



On returning to England, Flower quickly 

 reverted to natural history, and in 1855 was 

 appointed demonstrator of anatomy to the 

 Middlesex Hospital and curator of its mu- 

 seum. Here he did excellent work, and so 

 plainly showed the stuff that he was made of, 

 that six years later, in 1861, on the death of 

 Queckett, he was appointed conservator of the 

 museum of the Royal College of Surgeons. 

 This important post Flower held for twenty- 

 two years and, as we all know, carried out 

 its duties in a most effectual manner. When 

 the president of the Royal Society delivered 

 to Flower the Royal medal in 1882, he said: 

 ' It is very largely due to Professor Flower's 

 incessant and well-directed labors that the 

 museum of the Royal College of Surgeons con- 

 tains the most complete, the best ordered and 

 the most accessible collection of materials for 

 the study of vertebrate structure in existence.' 



From 1870 to 1884 Flower was Hunterian 

 professor of comparative anatomy and physi- 

 ology, and gave the admirable courses of lec- 

 tures on these subjects which have rendered 

 his name famous in the annals of zoological 

 science. 



In 1879, on the death of Lord Twceddalc, 

 Flower was unanimously elected president of 

 the Zoological Society of London, upon the 

 council of which he had served for many years 

 previously, and retained this post until his 

 death in 1899. In 1884 the directorship of the 

 great Natural History Museum in which we 

 are now assembled became vacant by the 

 death of Professor Owen, and Flower, being 

 omnium consensu most admirably fitted for 

 it, was selected for the post. Of the way in 

 which he performed the heavy duties of this 



