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SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XX. No. 506. 



Munroe, John P., M.D., President N. C. Medical 

 College, Davidson, N. C. (53.) K. 



Newell, Wilmon, State Entomologist, Atlanta, 

 Ga. (53.) F, G. 



Norris, Harry W., Professor of Zoology, Iowa 

 College, Grinnell, Iowa. (53.) Z. 



Peed, Mansfield T., Professor of Mathematics, 

 Emory College, Oxford, Ga. (53.) A. 



Rathbun, John Charles, 4035 15th Ave. N. E., 

 Seattle, Wash. (53.) A. 



Rothermel, John G., Superintendent, Wagner 

 Free Institute of Science, Philadelphia, Pa. (53.) 



Thomasson, A. H., M.D., 140 Boylston St., Bos- 

 ton, Mass. (53.) K. 



Wahrer, C. F., M.D., 1007 Fifth St., Ft. Madi- 

 son, Iowa. (53.) K. 



Warman, P. C, Geological Survey, Washington, 

 D. C. (53.) G. 



SCIENTIFIC BOOKS. 

 Sir William Henry Flower, K.G.B., F.B.S., 

 LL.D., D.C.L., Late Director of the Nat- 

 ural History Museum, and President of 

 the Royal Zoological Society. A Personal 

 Memoir by Charles J. Cornish, M.A., 

 F.Z.S. London, Macmillan and Co., Lim- 

 ited; New York, The Macmillan Company. 

 1904. 



In reading this memoir of Sir William 

 Plower we feel that his was preeminently a 

 life of action, and we are impressed with his 

 achievements rather than with his character. 

 Not that Mr. Cornish has neglected this part 

 of his work ; in fact, the author seems to think 

 that some might consider the personal element 

 too pronounced, but that Flower accomplished 

 so much. Aside from his knowledge, the 

 author has drawn freely upon Flower's letters 

 and published papers, while the first two chap- 

 ters, dealing with his younger days, are writ- 

 ten by Mr. Victor Flower, and Lady Flower 

 contributes a charmingly written chapter on 

 the latter portion of his life. 



Educated for a surgeon, Flower Joined the 

 army during the Crimean war, and we learn 

 that he showed conspicuous bravery under fire, 

 was assiduous in his care of the wounded — 

 though delighting in ' operations ' — and ever 

 desirous of improving the efficiency of the 

 service. 



From the portraits and context we gather 

 that he was a man of fine presence, dignified, 



and courteous to all, and as he was of a so- 

 ciable disposition, his friends were naturally 

 many and included many of the most eminent 

 men of the day. 



Although successful as a surgeon, Flower's 

 real work may be said to date from his ap- 

 pointment to the ofiiee of assistant surgeon at 

 the Middlesex Hospital, which included the 

 curatorship of the hospital museum. For, 

 above all things. Flower was a ' museum man ' 

 in the widest acceptation of the phrase, and 

 to him more than to any one else is due the 

 educational character of modem museums. 

 From his earliest youth he seems to have been 

 destined for the position he subsequently held, 

 and his crowning work at the British Museum 

 was foreshadowed by ' the large, flat, shallow 

 box ' which he fitted with cardboard trays. 



In December, 1861, he was appointed curator 

 of the museum of the Royal College of Sur- 

 geons, a position he held for thirteen years, 

 or until made director of the Natural History 

 Museum, Flower being the first to bear that 

 title, and here he remained until September 

 30, 1898, when he was forced to resign by fail- 

 ing health. Here it may be noted that the 

 chapter dealing with his appointment is, in 

 many ways, full of interest, as it contains 

 many details relating to the growth and de- 

 velopment of the British Museum which 

 should be full of encouragement for museum 

 officials on this side of the Atlantic. Those 

 who know the British Museum only as it is, 

 with its vast collections, magnificent and well- 

 ordered exhibition halls and staff of efficient 

 officers, may not know the long and difficult 

 path by which these were attained nor realize 

 that there was a time when the specimens were 

 crowded and shabby and the staff decidedly 

 underpaid. Flower may be said to have cojne 

 in at the turn of the tide, when, after many 

 years of struggle, a new building had been 

 erected and the salaries of many of the officers 

 substantially increased. Under his adminis- 

 tration the collections steadily grew in number 

 and irnportance, and while they all profited 

 by his care, his immediate attention was given 

 to the central hall whose exhibits form a com- 

 prehensive introduction to the study of sys- 

 tenlatie natural history. Here are to be found 



