PROCEEDINGS-PERTHSHIRE SOCIETY OF NATURAL SCIENCE. XC1 
by doing so, had done a great and excellent work for them in Perth. 
He would not speak of the honours that had been bestowed on Sir 
William, as he might not like that done in his presence, but he would 
only say that those who had not seen the new Natural History 
Museum in Cromwell Road in London should take good care to do 
so the first time they were in the metropolis. He had been pleased 
to hear what Sir William had said about their Museum,—that it was 
a model for provincial towns,—and he hoped they should take care 
that it continued to be a model. He thought no better educational 
work was being done in the city. While calling on Sir William at 
the great Museum he was glad to see, among other visitors, small 
sections of school children brought by their teachers to make some 
studies in the Museum. He should like to see the same going on 
in Perth. In his school days it would have been an immense relief 
to get off, for an afternoon especially, and to be taken to such a place 
as the Perthshire Museum of Natural Science. They were honoured 
that night with the presence of the Lord Provost, Magistrates, and 
Town Council of Perth, of the ex-Lord Provosts, of the members 
of the School Board and other educational institutions, the 
headmasters of the various schools in Perth, and a large number of 
scientists from University College, Dundee, and from the North, 
South, East, and West. All had gathered together to do honour to 
their friend Sir William Flower. They gave him a very hearty 
welcome, and wished him long life and prosperity. 
Sir William Flower, in the course of his reply, said that several 
honours had been paid to him that year, but that function crowned 
all. He had never before had a banquet given in his honour. It 
very rarely happened to any one to have his health proposed in such 
terms—far too glowing terms; and his only consolation was that it 
was not himself personally they were honouring by that banquet, but 
the cause of which he was a very humble representative—the cause 
of the progress of museums. He had always been a museum man. 
He could hardly remember the time when he was not a curator of a 
museum. First it began in a small box, then it was transferred to 
a drawer, then to a chest of drawers, and finally to a small room in 
his father’s house. He had in his possession a catalogue of the 
museum which he made when nine years old. At that time stuffing 
birds, collecting insects and various other things, led him on by 
degrees to take an interest in natural history in various ways; and, 
as there were very few openings in the museum business, he took 
the profession that seemed to be nearest it, and was brought up in 
the medical profession. Before he had been much more than 
a year as a student at the Middlesex Hospital he was appointed 
Curator in the Hospital Museum, where he spent nearly as much of 
his time as at his medical studies. After that he got drawn more 
and more away from museum work into the practice of his profession, 
and served in the army during the Crimean War. He returned home 
when he was about 30 years of age. He secured an appointment 
at the Royal College of Surgeons. If he had been a flourishing 
London surgeon he would not have had such an honour done him 
that day. He worked for the College of Surgeons for 22 years, and 
