244 THE LATE SIR WILLIAM HENRY FLOWER.
ment to the British Museum) also succeeded him in the Hunterian Pro-
fessorship, retaining both positions and residing at the College in Lincolns
Inn Fields, until in 1884, after 22 years, he again followed in the track of
Sir Richard Owen, as Director of the Natural History Museum at South
Kensington.
Professor Flower married in 1858 a daughter of Admiral Smyth, F.R.S.,
Hydrographer to the Navy, by whom he leaves a numerous family, His
eldest son, Stanley, named after and christened by the late Dean Stanley,
who was an intimate friend of Flowers, is now Conservator of the Zoological
Gardens in Cairo.
Many honours were conferred upon him. He was elected a Fellow of
the Zoological Society in 1851, of the Royal Society in 1864, receiving their
Gold Medal in 1882 ; and on the Jubilee of the Queen was appointed C.B., and
a Knight of the Order in 1892.
Sir William was essentially (to quote his own phrase) a "Museum-man."
Even as a youth he made Collections which were all carefully arranged,
labelled, and catalogued ; as he graphically described in an article in
Chambers's Journal (April, 1897), entitled—"Natural History as a Vocation."
Thus by nature orderly and careful in all things he well fulfilled in public
life the well-known aphorism of Goethe—"Ohne hast, ohne rast," and
during his whole career that was the secret of his success in all he undertook.
In him the rare combination of knowledge and scientific capacity, with perfect
courtesy and business tact were well displayed. At all times, whether in the
Professorial Chair or amid the varied duties of Museum work, either at the
Royal College (where the writer first made his acquaintance), or at South
Kensington, his careful, methodical, and patient work was ever faithfully
performed and merited unstinted praise.
But the strain involved in the management and arrangement of the Natural
History Museum, which was by no means an idle task to such a worker, proved
at last too great for his physical strength, which had always suffered from his
experiences in the Crimea. The collapse came suddenly, and he was com-
pelled, though reluctantly enough, to tender his resignation and withdraw
from all active work, in August, 1898. After wintering in San Remo, he
returned to London in May ; but his health gradually weakened to the end.
Before his connection with the Museum ceased, however, he had one
great source of gratification. For many years he had persistently urged upon
the Trustees, and through them the Treasury, the necessity of a suitable room
for the display of the larger Cetaceans ; but without effect. This desire was
fulfilled, during the last two years of his service, by the erection of a large
building, in which he arranged the principal typical forms ; and the "Whale
Gallery" was opened, much to his satisfaction a little while before his
resignation ; he having thus accomplished what his predecessor, Sir
Richard Owen, declared to be "the dream of his life."
For over twenty years he was President of the Zoological Society, having
been first elected in 1879. During this time, save for the last twelve months,
when his health and sojourn abroad forbad, he was rarely absent from the
Council meetings or the Evening Scientific gatherings : and the more active
Fellows are fully aware how through those years his help and influence not