Sir William Flower

THE LIBRARY

OF

THE UNIVERSITY
OF CALIFORNIA

PRESENTED BY

PROF. CHARLES A. KOFOID AND
MRS. PRUDENCE W. KOFOID

ENGLISH

MEN OF SCIENCE

EDITED BY

J. REYNOLDS GREEN, Sc.D.

SIR WILLIAM FLOWER

All Right* Reserved

SIR WILLIAM FLOWER

BY

R. LYDEKKER

PUBLISHED IN LONDON BY
J. M. DENT & CO., AND IN NEW
YORK BY E. P. DUTTON & CO.

1906

kr-

Lvb
PREFACE

ALTHOUGH the complete manuscript of this volume was
placed in the hands of the editor before the publication
of the late Mr. C. J. Cornish's Life of Sir William
Flower (in 1 904), yet the present writer was aware that
such a work was in progress, and that it would deal
with the social and personal rather than with the
scientific side of Sir William's career. Consequently
it was decided at an early period of the work to con-
centrate attention in the present volume on the latter
aspect of the subject ; as indeed is only fitting in the
case of a biography belonging to a series specially
devoted to men of science. An incidental advantage of
this arrangement is that the writer has been able in the
main to confine himself to the discussion of topics with
which he is more or less familiar, rather than to attempt
to chronicle events and episodes to which he must of
necessity be a stranger, and to attempt an appreciation
of a fine character for which he is in no wise qualified.

It will be obvious from the above, that any references
in the text to earlier biographies do not relate to Mr.
Cornish's volume.

In the course of the text, it has been necessary to
make certain allusions to the condition and the mode of
exhibition of the specimens in the public galleries of the
Zoological Department of the Natural History Museum

IW35Q267

vi PREFACE

previous to the new regime inaugurated by Sir William
Flower. The writer may take this opportunity of
stating that these are in no wise intended to convey the
slightest reflection on those who had charge of the
galleries previous to the new era. Technical museum-
installation and display is a comparatively new thing ;
and the old plan of arrangement had become obsolete,
not for want of attention, but because a more advanced
scheme had been developed by gradual evolution, and
the adoption of this involved a clean sweep.

In conclusion, the writer has to express his best
thanks to Mr. C. E. Fagan, of the Secretariat of the
Natural History Museum, for kindly reading and re-
vising the proof sheets.

HARPENDEN LODGE,

HERTS, July 1906.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER I

PAGE
GENERAL SKETCH OF FLOWER.'s LIFE . I

CHAPTER II
AS CONSERVATOR OF THE MUSEUM OF THE COLLEGE OF

SURGEONS, AND HUNTERIAN PROFESSOR . . 3!

CHAPTER III
AS DIRECTOR OF THE NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM . 57

CHAPTER IV
AS PRESIDENT OF THE ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY . . 89

CHAPTER V
GENERAL ZOOLOGICAL WORK ... . . 95

CHAPTER VI
WORK ON THE CETACEA » . . . . 1 39

CHAPTER VII
ANTHROPOLOGICAL WORK . . ... . 153

CHAPTER VIII

MUSEUM AND MISCELLANEOUS WORK .... 169

APPENDIX (LIST OF BOOKS AND MEMOIRS) . . 179

Life of Flower

CHAPTER I

BORN on 3oth November 1831 at his father's house,
" The Hill," Stratford-on-Avon, William Henry Flower
was a man who had the rare good fortune not only to
make a profession of the pursuit he loved best, but
likewise to attain the highest possible success in, and
to be appointed to the most important and influential
post connected with that profession. As he tells us in
that delightful book, Essays on Museums, he was pleased
to designate as a " museum " when a boy at home a
miscellaneous collection of natural history objects, kept
at first in a cardboard box, but subsequently housed in
a cupboard. And as a man he became the respected
head of the greatest Natural History Museum in the
British Empire, if not indeed in the whole world. Very
significant of his future attention to details and of the
importance he attached to recording the history of
every specimen received in a museum, is the fact that
he compiled a carefully drawn-up catalogue of his first
boyish collection.

This early and persistent taste for natural history was
not, as we learn from the same collection of essays, in-
herited from any member of either his father's 'or his
A

2 LIFE OF FLOWER

mother's family, but appears to have been an "idio-
pathic " development. His isolated position in this
respect may, perhaps, have caused Flower in later life
to notice more specially than might otherwise have been
the case, how comparatively rare is the development
of an ingrained taste for natural history among the
adult members of the British nation. This idea was
exemplified by his remarking on one occasion to the
present writer that he often wondered how many
persons out of every thousand he passed casually in the
street, or met in social intercourse, had the slightest
sympathy with, or took any real interest in the subjects
which formed his own favourite pursuits and lines
of thought.

As regards his parentage, his father was the late
Edward Fordham Flower, who was a Justice of the
Peace for his county, and from whom the son inherited
his tall and stately figure and dignified bearing. Edward
Flower, who was a partner in the well-known brewery
at Stratford-on-Avon, was the eldest son of Richard
Flower, of Marden Hill, Hertfordshire, who married
Elizabeth, daughter of John Fordham, of Sandon Bury,
in the same county. In 1827 Edward married Celina,
daughter of John Greaves, of Radford Semele, Warwick-
shire, by whom he had, with other issue, Charles
Edward, late of Glencassly, Sutherlandshire, and William
Henry, the subject of the present memoir.

Edward Fordham Flower was noted not only for his
philanthropy, but for his efforts to abolish the bearing-
rein, which in his time was neither more nor less than
an instrument of downright torture to all carriage
horses. As the result of his efforts in this direction,

LIFE OF FLOWER 3

was founded in 1890, by Mr. C. H. Allen, of Hampstead,
a small local society for that district and Highgate,
having for its object the abolition, or at all events the
mitigated use, of the bearing-rein for draught-horses of
all descriptions. That body did good work in this
direction for many years in the north of London ; and
by its means the Hampstead Vestry was induced to
prohibit the use of the bearing-rein on the horses in its
employ — an example subsequently followed by many
large coal-owners and others connected with horses.

From this small beginning arose in 1897 the now
flourishing society known as the Anti-Bearing Rein
Association, of which, as was appropriate, Mr. Archibald
Flower, a grandson of Edward Fordham Flower, became
Co.-Hon. Secretary with Mr. Allen, while the late
Duke of Westminster, and the late Sir W. H. Flower
(the subject of this biography) respectively accepted
the positions of Patron and President.

In all the obituary notices it is stated that William
Henry was the second son of Edward Fordham and
Celina Flower. This, however, as I am informed by
Mr. Arthur S. Flower (the eldest son of Sir William),
is not strictly the case. As an actual fact, the eldest
son of the aforesaid Edward and Celina was really
Richard, who died in infancy, so that Charles, who was
born second, grew up as the eldest son, and William
Henry as the second, whereas he was really the third.

The fair-haired and blue-eyed William not being
intended to succeed his father in the business, was
permitted from his early years — fortunately for zoo-
logical science — to pursue that innate love of natural
history which, as we have seen, developed itself in very

4 LIFE OF FLOWER

early years and continued unabated till the close of his
career. That career naturally divides into three epochs.
Firstly, the period of boyhood and early manhood ;
secondly, the long period of official life at the museum
of the Royal College of Surgeons ; and thirdly, the
time during which the subject of this memoir occupied
the post of Director of the Natural History Branch
of the British Museum, together with the short interval
which elapsed between his resignation of that position
and his untimely death. To each of the latter periods
a separate chapter is devoted. It has, however,
been found convenient, instead of restricting the present
chapter to the first epoch, to include within its limits
a general sketch of Flower's whole life. A fourth
chapter is assigned to the period during which he was
President of the Zoological Society of London, although
this was synchronous with part of the period covered
by the second, and with the whole of that treated of
in the third chapter. Finally, the full description
of his scientific work is reserved for subsequent
chapters.

According to information kindly furnished by his
widow, Lady Flower, delicate health prevented William
Flower from being much at school during his boyhood,
and he was thus largely dependent upon his mother — a
sensible and well-read woman — for his early education.
He was also in the habit of accompanying his father in
his rides, whereby he became much interested in all
that concerns horses and their well-being. Best of all,
as regards opportunity for developing a love of animal
life, he was in the habit of taking long, solitary rambles
in the country, thereby acquiring a knowledge of Nature

LIFE OF FLOWER 5

which could be obtained in no other manner, and
developing his powers of observation.

This innate taste for natural history appears to have
been further fostered in early life by frequent intercourse
with the late Rev. P. B. Brodie, an enthusiastic zoologist
and geologist ; but whether this took place during school
or college life the writer has no means of knowing. Be
this as it may, it appears that after a preliminary
education, partly at home and partly at private schools,
Flower matriculated at London University in 1849, (the
year of his present biographer's birth), attaining honours
in Zoology ; and that during the same year having made
up his mind to adopt the study and practice of Medicine,
or of Surgery as a profession, he entered the Medical
Classes at University College and became a pupil at the
Middlesex Hospital. It was apparently largely, if not
entirely, owing to his fondness for zoology that young
Flower selected Medicine as a profession, since at the
time, as indeed for many years subsequently, this was
practically the only career open to young naturalists
devoid of sufficient private means whereby they might
hope to be able to devote a certain amount of time and
attention to the pursuits — and more especially Com-
parative Anatomy — towards which their inclinations
tended.

At University College Flower had a distinguished
career, gaining the gold medal in Dr. Sharpey's class of
Physiology and Anatomy, and the silver medal in Zoology
and Comparative Anatomy ; the gold medal in the latter
subjects having been carried off the same year by his
fellow- student, Joseph Lister, who in after years became
the distinguished surgeon, and, as Lord Lister, was for

6 LIFE OF FLOWER

some time President of the Royal Society of London.
In 1851 — the year of the Great Exhibition — Flower
passed his first M.B. examination at London University,
coming out in the first division. In the same year he
made a tour in Holland and Germany, while in 1853 ^e
visited France and the north of Spain ; bringing home
in both instances numerous sketches in pencil and sepia
of the scenery and people of the countries traversed.

In all the obituary notices of Flower that have come
under the present writer's notice, it is stated that he
obtained the post of Curator of the museum of the
Middlesex Hospital after his return from the Crimea.
This is, however, proved to be incorrect by his first
zoological paper, " On the Dissection of a Species of
Galago," which was contributed to the Zoological
Society of London in 1852, and appeared in the
Proceedings of that body for the same year, where the
author describes himself as the holder of the post in
question. As a matter of fact, he was elected Curator
in 1854, anc* resigned the post in I854.1

Flower never took the degree of M.D., but three
years after passing his M.B. he became (on 2yth March
1854) a member of the Royal College of Surgeons
of England.

A few weeks after this event a call was made for
additional surgeons for the army then serving in the
Crimea, and young Flower, partly, perhaps, from
patriotic motives, and partly with a view of extending
his practical experience in surgery, promptly volunteered
his services, which were accepted. After spending a few

1 The writer is indebted to the Secretary of the Middlesex Hospital for
these particulars.

LIFE OF FLOWER 7

idle months with the Depot Battalion then stationed at
Templemore, in Ireland, he was gazetted as Assistant-
Surgeon to the 63rd (now the First Battalion of the Man-
chester) Regiment ; and in July 1854 embarked with his
regiment at Cork for Constantinople. On its arrival in the
east the regiment was at once hurried up to join the main
army at Varna, whence it proceeded to take part in the
expedition to the Crimea, where both officers and men
suffered severely from exposure to the inclemencies of
the climate and an insufficient commissariat during
the early months of the campaign. For ten weeks
together, it is reported, neither officers or men took off
their clothes, either by night or by day, and for the first
three weeks all ranks were compelled to get such sleep
as they could obtain on the bare ground. Flower, who
was present at the battles of the Alma, of Inkerman, and
of Balaclava, as well as at the fall of Sebastopol, under-
went many and thrilling experiences during the campaign,
alike in the field and in the hospital. The hardships
and privations which caused the strength of his regiment
to be reduced by nearly one-half within the short period
of four months, could not but tell severely on the
constitution of the young surgeon, which was never
very robust ; and from some of the effects of these
he suffered throughout his life. Nevertheless, in spite
of all this, in the intervals of duty, Flower, with but
scant materials at his disposal, managed to find time and
energy sufficient to make a considerable number of
vivid pen-and-ink, or dashes of ink-and-water, sketches
of his surroundings, including one of his own tent
overturned by the terrible snow-storm of 1 4th Novem-
ber 1854, anc^ a second of the wrecked condition of the

8 LIFE OF FLOWER

camp in general at the end of the tempest. A pano-
ramic view of Constantinople and a sketch of the
military hospital at Scutari were also among his artistic
productions at this period. In recognition of his services,
Flower, after being invalided home, received from the
hands of Her Majesty, Queen Victoria, the Crimean
medal, with clasps for the Alma, Inkerman, Balaclava,
and Sebastopol ; while he was also permitted to accept
from H.M., the Sultan, the Turkish war-medal.

Apparently Flower had never entertained the idea of
taking up the profession of an army surgeon as a per-
manency, and after his return to London he definitely
resigned military service, with the intention of settling
down to private medical practice in the Metropolis. In
the spring of 1857 he passed the examination qualifying
for the fellowship of the Royal College of Surgeons ;
and about this time, or perhaps immediately on his return
to London, he joined the staffof the Middlesex Hospital
as Demonstrator in Anatomy. During the next year
(1858) he was elected to the post of Assistant-Surgeon
to the same Institution, where he resumed the Curator-
ship of the museum and was also appointed Lecturer on
Comparative Anatomy. Although a large portion of his
time while at the hospital was devoted to surgical and
other duties connected with the medical profession, his
Lectureship and Curatorship required that he should
devote a considerable amount of attention to the more
congenial study of Comparative Anatomy.

It was during his connection with the Middlesex
Hospital that his first scientific work was published, this
being the well-known and useful little volume entitled
Diagrams of the Nerves of the Human Body, which

LIFE OF FLOWER 9

appeared in 1861, and has passed through three editions.
During this period of his career he also contributed to
Holmes' System of Surgery an article on " Injuries to the
Upper Extremities," which contained certain original ob-
servations- with regard to dislocations of the shoulder-
joint ; and he likewise wrote an essay on the same subject
to the Pathological Society, as well as several articles
on various surgical subjects to the medical journals of the
day. But even at this comparatively early period of his
career Flower's published scientific work was by no means
strictly confined to his ostensible profession, for his two
first papers on Comparative Anatomy — the one "On
the Dissection of a Galago " (Lemur) ; and the other " On
the Posterior Lobes of the Cerebrum of the Quadru-
mana " — appeared during the period in question. During
this period, as the writer of his obituary notice in the
" Record " of the Royal Society well remarks, there is
little doubt that Flower had breathing time, after his
Crimean experiences, to collect his energies and gather
up a store of valuable information which stood him in good
stead in later years, when he had frequently less leisure
to devote to pure study.

It was, moreover, during his official connection with
the Middlesex Hospital that Mr. Flower married Georgina
Rosetta, the youngest daughter of the late Admiral W.
H. Smyth, C.S.I., etc., a well-known astronomer, who
was for some time Hydrographer to the Admiralty and
likewise Foreign Secretary to the Royal Society, the
wedding taking place in 1858 at the church of Stone, in
Buckinghamshire, near the bride's home. This happy
union had in many ways an important influence upon the
future career of the young surgeon, for, in addition to

io LIFE OF FLOWER

her father, several of the relatives of Mrs. (now Lady)
Flower were more or less intimately connected with
scientific work and scientific people ; among them being
Sir Warrington Smyth (sometime Inspector-General of
Mines), Professor Piazzi Smyth, General Sir Henry
Smyth, and Sir George Baden Powell. It was to Lady
Flower that Sir William dedicated his last work, the
volume entitled Essays on Museums. A tour through
Belgium and up the Rhine followed the marriage.

Although it scarcely comes within the purview of this
biography to allude to the issue of this marriage, it may
be mentioned that of the three sons born to Sir William
Flower, the second alone, Stanley Smyth, inherited his
father's zoological tastes. Captain S. S. Flower (who
takes his first name from Dean Stanley, of Westminster,
an intimate friend of the family, after serving for some
time in the 5th Fusileers, obtained the appointment of
Director of the Royal Museum at Bangkok, Siam,
after which he was made Director of the Khedival
Zoological Gardens at Giza, near Cairo, to which post
(which he still holds) was subsequently added that of
Superintendent of Game Protection in the Sudan. Cap-
tain Flower has not only raised the menagerie at Giza
to a high state of perfection, but has contributed several
papers to the Proceedings of the Zoological Society of
London on the zoology of Siam and the Malay countries.

To revert to the proper subject of this memoir, during
his tenure of the aforesaid official posts at the Middle-
sex Hospital it was apparent to his intimate scientific
friends — among whom were included the late Professor
T. H. Huxley and the late Mr. George Busk — that the
inclinations of Flower were all on the side of com-

LIFE OF FLOWER n

parative anatomy rather than towards practical surgery
or medicine. Accordingly, when the appointment of
Conservator to the Museum of the Royal College of
Surgeons became vacant in 1 86 1 by the death of Mr.
Quekett, Flower was strongly recommended by Huxley
(then Hunterian Professor), Busk, and other friends as
a suitable successor, and was in due course elected by the
Council. When, nine years later (1870), Huxley him-
self felt compelled by the pressure of other engagements
and work to resign the Hunterian Professorship, the
Conservator of the Museum was appointed to the vacant
chair, thus once more bringing together two posts which
had been sundered since Owen's resignation.

On his appointment to the Conservatorship of the
Museum of the College of Surgeons, Flower once for
all definitely abandoned medicine as a profession, and
determined to devote the whole of his energies for the
future to the study of his beloved comparative anatomy
and zoology. Nevertheless, he always remained in touch
with his old profession, as he was always in sympathy
with those who were actively practising the same.
Indeed, since the collections under his charge included
a large pathological series, while during his tenure of
office a large display of surgical instruments was added
to the exhibits, he could not, even had he so desired,
cut himself entirely adrift from old associations and old
studies.

Since a considerable amount of space in a later chapter
is devoted to Flower's work as Museum Curator and as
Hunterian Lecturer, it will be unnecessary to allude
further to it in this place, although it will be appro-
priate to quote the elogium on his efforts in this sphere,

12 LIFE OF FLOWER

pronounced by the President of the Royal Society, when
bestowing the Royal Gold Medal in recognition of his
services to zoology.

" It is very largely due," runs the address, " to his
incessant and well-directed labour that the museum of
the Royal College of Surgeons at present contains the
most complete, the best ordered, and the most accessible
collection of materials for the study of vertebrate
structures extant."

As regards his Hunterian lectures, it has been well
remarked that few could have any idea of the amount
of labour they involved, nor would any one be likely to
guess this from the ever-ready and earnest efforts of the
lecturer to give to others that knowledge he had so
laboriously, and yet so pleasantly, acquired within the
walls of the museum.

In addition to the official Hunterian lectures, Flower
during this portion of his career commenced the delivery,
as opportunity occurred, of lectures of a much more
popular description, at the Royal Institution and else-
where, by means of which he appealed to a wider
audience than any that could be attracted to technical
discourses, and at the same time was enabled to give a
wide circulation to the discussion of subjects connected
with his own special studies which had more or less of
a general interest. In one of his earlier discourses of
this type he discussed at considerable detail the deformi-
ties produced in the human foot by badly-designed boots
or other covering among both civilised and barbarous
nations. Indeed, " fashion in deformity " was at all
times a favourite theme with the Hunterian Professor ;
and in a lecture on this subject he uttered, for him, a

LIFE OF FLOWER 13

strong protest against the evils caused by the corset
among European females, illustrating his remarks with
a ghastly figure of a female skeleton distorted by the
undue pressure of that fashionable article of costume.

In 1871, and again in later years, Professor Flower
acted as Examiner in Zoology for the Natural Science
Tripos at Cambridge, where his suave and dignified
manner, and innate courtliness rendered him as great a
favourite as in the Metropolis. He was during some
portion of his career Examiner in Anatomy at the Royal
College of Veterinary Surgeons.

Flower's official connection with the museum of the
Royal College of Surgeons was brought to a close by
Owen's resignation of the Post of Superintendent of the
Natural History Department of the British Museum,
when it was felt by all that the efficient and successful
administrator of the smaller museum in Lincoln's Inn
Fields, was the one man specially fitted in every way to
have supreme charge of the larger establishment in the
Cromwell Road. Professor Flower was accordingly
selected by the three principal trustees — the Archbishop
of Canterbury, the Lord Chancellor, and the Speaker of
the House of Commons — to fill this important post, into the
duties of which he entered during the same year. His ad-
ministration of the museum — which lasted until he was
compelled by failing health to send in his resignation a
few months before his death — is fully discussed in the
fourth chapter, and was in every way a complete success.

During his long and successful official career Sir
William was the recipient of a number of honours (in
addition to the medals he received for his Crimean
service), and he was likewise on the roll of the more

1 4 LIFE OF FLOWER

important societies connected with the branches of
biological study in which he was specially interested.

Of the Royal Society Sir William was elected a
Fellow in 1864 — at the relatively early age of thirty-
three — and he served on the Council of that body for
three separate periods, namely from 1868 to 1870, from
1876 to 1878, and again from 1884 to 1886, while in
1884 and 1885 he was one of the Vice-Presidents. In
1882 his conspicuous services to zoological science was
recognised by the bestowal upon him of a Royal Gold
Medal — one of the most honourable distinctions in the
gift of the Society ; the other recipient in the same year
of a similar honour being Lord Rayleigh. In handing to
Professor Flower this medal, the President dwelt upon
the value of his contributions to both zoology and an-
thropology, referring, in connection with the former
science, to his paper on the classification of the Carnivora,
and, in respect to the latter, to the then recently pub-
lished first part of the "Catalogue of Osteological
Specimens in the Museum of the Royal College of Sur-
geons," in which descriptions and measurements of
between 1 300 and 1400 human skulls are recorded. The
present writer has been informed that Flower refused
to be nominated for the Presidentship of the Royal
Society, owing to the fear that the calls made upon his
time by that office would interfere with his official duties.
Of the Zoological Society Professor Flower became a
Fellow so long ago as the year 1851, that is to say,
three years previous to the commencement of his Crimean
service. After serving for several periods on the Council
he was elected to the honourable (and honorary) office
of President on the death of the Marquis of Tweeddale

LIFE OF FLOWER 15

in 1879, and 'm this important position he remained till
his death. It should be added that Flower never
received one of the medals of the Zoological Society,
and this for the very good reason that such rewards are
bestowed in recognition of gifts to the Society's Mena-
gerie, and not for contributions to zoological knowledge.
Flower's contributions to both the Transactions and the
Proceedings of the Society were numerous, and, needless
to say, valuable ; the earliest in the former having been
published in 1866, and in the latter in 1852. With very
few exceptions, these communications relate to mammals.
Fuller details with regard to Sir William's Presidency
of the Zoological Society will be found in a later
chapter.

Of the Linnean Society, Flower was elected a Fellow
in 1862, but he does not appear to have ever taken any
active part in the administration of that body, or to have
contributed to its publications, although for a time he
was a Vice-President.

To the Geological Society, on the other hand, of
which he became a Fellow in the year 1886, Sir William
contributed three papers on paleontological subjects, by
far the most important of which was one on the affinities
and probable habits of the extinct Australian marsupial
Thylacoleo. Further allusion to this is made in the sequel.
Of the other two, one recorded the occurrence of teeth
of the bear-like Hyatnarctus in the Red Crag of Suffolk,
and the other that of a skull of the manatee-like Ha/i-
therium in the same formation.

Of the Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and
Ireland Flower was elected a Vice-President in 1879,
while in 1883 he succeeded to the Presidential chair,

1 6 LIFE OF FLOWER

and occupied that position till 1885. Of his numerous
contributions to anthropological science, many appeared
in the journal of the Institute.

In the annual meetings of the British Association for
the advancement of science, Flower, from an early date,
took a lively interest. At the Norwich meeting, in 1868,
he acted as Vice-President of the section of Biology,
white he was President of the same section at the
Dublin meeting of 1878. At York he presided over
the section of Anthropology in 1 88 1 ; he was a Vice-
President at the Aberdeen meeting of 1885, while for
the second time he occupied the Presidential chair of
the Anthropological section in 1894 at Oxford, when
his opening address on Anthropological progress dis-
played great breadth of thought and generalisation.
Finally, he was President of the Association at the
meeting held in Newcastle-on-Tyne in 1889, ^s
address at the latter meeting forming the first article in
Essays on Museums.

Among other offices of a kindred nature to the
above, it may be mentioned that Sir William was
President of the section of Anatomy at the International
Medical Congress held in London in August 1 88 1.
His address on that occasion (reprinted as article 7 of
the volume just cited) being on the Museum of the
Royal College of Surgeons. In July 1893 ^e acted as
President of the Museum's Association at their London
meeting, when, after referring to the general scope of
that body, and a brief survey of some of the chief
museums of Europe, he sketched out a plan for an ideal
building of this nature. This address also appears in
Essays on Museums. Sir William, the year before

LIFE OF FLOWER 17

his death, had also undertaken to preside over the
meeting of the International Zoological Congress held
at Cambridge in the summer of 1898, but was pre-
vented by failing health ; his place being filled by Lord
Avebury (Sir John Lubbock). On 29th November
1895, Sir William Flower delivered an address at the
opening of the Perth Museum, in which he pointed out
the special function of local museums. Five years
earlier (3rd November 1890) he had delivered another
address on a very similar occasion, namely, the opening
of the Booth Museum, in the Dyke Road, Brighton,
famed for its unrivalled collection of British birds, the
great majority of which had been shot and subsequently
mounted in a most artistic manner by its founder. This
splendid collection, it may be mentioned, was bequeathed
at Mr. Booth's death to the British Museum, but it
was reluctantly declined by the Trustees, who waived
their right in favour of the Corporation of Brighton.
At the end of October 1896, Sir William, then in fail-
ing health, somewhat rashly undertook a journey to
Scotland to assist Lord Reay in the inauguration of the
Gatty Marine Laboratory at St. Andrews.

Another important address delivered by Flower was one
read before the Church Congress at their meeting, held
in October 1883, at Reading, on «' Recent Advances in
Natural Science in Relation to the Christian Faith." It
is reprinted in Essays on Museums. In this address
Flower, while proclaiming his full adherence to the
doctrine of the transmutation of species and the evolution
of every organic form from a pre-existing type, urged
that this did not in the least shake his confidence in all
the essential teaching of the Christian religion. At the
B

1 8 LIFE OF FLOWER

same time he pointed out that the new doctrine in no
wise detracted from the position of the Divine Ruler of
the world as the controller, and indeed the originator,
of animal development.

Shortly after his retirement from the post of Con-
servator, Professor Flower was elected a Trustee of the
Hunterian Collection of the Royal College of Surgeons.
Many years later, in 1 88 1, he became a Trustee of Sir
John Soane's Museum, in Lincoln's Inn Fields.

Mention has already been made of the fact that in an
early stage of his career Sir William became an M.B. of
London, and that later on he was elected to the Fellow-
ship of the Royal College of Surgeons. In addition to
these professional qualifications, he was also the recipient
of honorary degrees from the two elder Universities.
Thus in 1891 he was made a D.C.L. of Oxford, the
public orator of the University, when the degree was
conferred, acclaiming him as a living proof of the truth
of the old saying, dp^yj avdpa. dei%ti, attributed to one of
the seven wise men of Greece, and as a man who had
passed with increasing distinction from one important
official post to another ; and he was likewise a D.Sc. of
Cambridge. But this by no means exhausts the list
of his academic honours, Edinburgh, St. Andrews, and
Trinity College, Dublin, claiming him on their roll of
honorary LL.D.'s, while in 1889 he received from
Durham the degree of D.C.L. The Edinburgh degree,
it may be mentioned, was conferred on the occasion of
the celebration of the tercentenary of the University.
Sir William was also a Ph.D.

Nor were Flower's conspicuous services to zoological
science suffered to remain unrecognised by the Govern-

LIFE OF FLOWER 19

ment of his country, for he was created a C.B. in 1887,
three years after his first appointment to the British
Museum, and five years later (1892) followed the
higher distinction of the K.C.B. But this does not
exhaust the list of official honours, for in 1887 Sir
William received from Her Majesty, the late Queen
Victoria, the Jubilee Medal. Had he lived to the date
of its foundation, it is possible that Flower might
have been admitted by his Sovereign as one of the
original members of the Order of Merit.

From His Majesty the German Emperor Sir William
Flower received the distinction of the Royal Prussian
order, "Pour la Merite," an honour of which he was
justly very proud. As a distinguished friend pointed
out in his letter of congratulation on learning of the new
distinction, "it is the one European decoration which an
Englishman may be proud to wear, and bestowed, as I
believe it to be, with the sanction of the very few who
have already got it. It is the one order which real
work, apart from rank and wealth and courtiers' trick,
alone can win." As another eminent friend described
it on the same occasion, it is truly <c the blue riband of
literary and scientific decorations."

Numerous foreign scientific societies, it is almost
unnecessary to observe, were proud to claim the name of
Sir William Flower on the list of their honorary members
or associates. It is however by no means easy to give a
complete list of these honourable distinctions, for Flower
was not one who followed the fashion of adding every
possible combination of letters to his name in every book
or paper he wrote. Perhaps the most important of
these distinctions was that of Foreign Correspondent

20 LIFE OF FLOWER

of the Institute of France. Among other societies and
academies to which he belonged, were those of the
Netherlands, Sweden, and Belgium.

Although Flower's scientific writings are discussed
at length in the later chapters of this memoir, it may be
mentioned in this place that during the " eighties " he
contributed an important series of articles to the ninth
edition of the " Encyclopaedia Britannica." At the
commencement of that great undertaking, although the
article u Ape " was confided to the competent hands of
the late Professor St. George Mivart, some of the other
articles, such as the one on" Antelope," were entrusted
to writers who, whatever their other merits may have
been, had certainly no claim to be regarded as specialists
on the subject of mammals. It was not long before
this was recognised by the publishers, who forthwith
engaged for this section of the work the services of
Flower, supplemented by those of the late Dr. Dobson
and Mr. O. Thomas. Among the more important articles
by Flower were those on the Horse, Kangaroo, Lemur,
Lion, Mammalia (in co-operation with Dr. Dobson),
Megatherium, Otter, Platypus, Rhinoceros, Seal, Tapir,
and "Whale. These and other articles, together with the
one on Ape by Professor Mivart and several on the
smaller mammals by Mr. Thomas, were subsequently
combined and revised to form the basis of the Study of
Mammals Living and Extinct, by Sir William Flower
and the present writer, and was published by Messrs.
A. & C. Black in 1891, which long formed the standard
English work on the subject, although now, owing to
the rapid progress in zoology and the great change which
has taken place in nomenclature, is somewhat out of date.

LIFE OF FLOWER 21

The excellent little volume on The Horse in Sir
John Lubbock's (Lord Avebury) Modern Science Series,
published in 1891, and the Essays on Museums
(1898), also appeared during this portion of Flower's
career.

Although so largely occupied in the study of
mammals and other creatures from distant parts of the
world, Sir William never travelled much, and never
visited little known regions or did any important
collecting abroad. In addition to his Crimean ex-
periences, and the journeys in Holland, France, and the
Rhine country, to which allusion has been already made,
his foreign tours appear to have been but few. In the
winter of 1873-74 he was, however, enabled to enjoy a
trip up the Nile in company with Mrs. Flower, and he
visited Biarritz in 1892. During the former excursion
he made a number of sketches which bear ample
testimony to his powers as an artist. With his great
knowledge of anatomy, it may be here mentioned,
coupled with his skill with the pencil, he enjoyed a
great advantage over many contemporary zoologists in
being able to draw accurate and life-like portraits of the
animals he loved so well. Nevertheless, if only from
lack of time, he never attempted to illustrate with
his own hand any of his numerous scientific contributions
— at all events in later years. Owing to need for com-
plete rest, after a short sojourn in the early part of 1897
at Marazion, on the south coast of Cornwall, he spent
much of the following winter abroad ; and after his
resignation of the Directorship of the Museum in 1898,
he spent the following winter at San Remo, from which
he returned less than two months before his death.

22 LIFE OF FLOWER

As regards the closing scenes of his life, a very few
words must suffice. For the last two years of his
existence he had evidently been in failing health, largely
due to his incessant exertions and from his refusal
to spare himself, even when warned of the absolute
necessity of so doing by his medical adviser. In
August 1898, after a long period during which he had
been compelled to devote little or no attention to his
official duties, he placed his resignation of the Director-
ship of the Museum in the hands of the Trustees. The
aforesaid sojourn at San Remo during the following
winter effected some slight temporary improvement in
his health, but on his return to London, in May 1899, lt
was painfully apparent that his constitution — never too
robust — was shattered beyond hope of permanent
recovery. And, after a slight temporary rally, from his
malady of heart-failure, a sharp relapse occurred on
Thursday, 29th June, followed by pneumonia, and on
Saturday, 1st July, Sir William Flower passed peacefully
away, at the age of sixty-seven years, at his residence,
26 Stanhope Gardens, London.

A memorial service was held on the following
Wednesday at St. Luke's Church, Sidney Street, Chelsea,
which was attended by a large and sympathetic congre-
gation of friends and scientific men, including Sir
Edward Maunde Thompson, the Chief Librarian and
Director of the British Museum, and Professor E. Ray
Lankester, Sir William's successor in the Directorship of
the Natural History Branch of the same.

Sir William was undoubtedly a man of high and
noble character, endeared to all with whom he was
brought into intimate relations by his unfailing courtesy

LIFE OF FLOWER 23

and charm of manner. To the present writer, it may
be said perhaps without undue egotism, he was a friend
and counsellor such as cannot be expected more than
once in a life-time.

No better summary of Sir William's general character
and high attributes can perhaps be given (certainly the
present writer cannot attempt to rival it) than the one
drawn up by his biographer in the "Year-book" of
the Royal Society for 1901, which may accordingly be
quoted in extenso : —

" In private life no one was more beloved and
esteemed. He was in every sense a domestic man,
finding the highest joys that life brought him with
his family and children. The same courtly bearing and
high tone, the same preference for all that was good, was
in private circles mingled with the same genial smile,
the fascinating account of something interesting or novel,
and the respect and deference to others, which was part
of his upright, unselfish nature. Many a young natura-
list will gratefully remember the kind encouragement
and valued advice he was ever ready to offer, and the
stimulus which the sympathetic interest of a leader in
the department gave him.

" In the busy life of Sir William and in the constant
calls on brain and nervous system — strong though these
were — there came times when a feeling of lassitude with
headache and spinal uneasiness, if not prostration,
showed that the indoor life and the strain of many
duties had told with severity both on the central nervous
system and on the heart. His annual holiday sufficed in
many cases to recruit his energies, especially when he
visited Scotland and the charming home of his friends,

24 LIFE OF FLOWER

Mr. and Mrs. Drummond, of Megginch. There he met
other friends, such as Dean and Lady Augusta Stanley
[after whom a son and a daughter were respectively
named] and Colonel Drummond-Hay, of Seggieden,
brother of Mr. Drummond. Moreover, he was always
interested in the splendid collection of birds made by
Colonel Drummond-Hay during his wanderings with
the Black Watch."

Another passage from the same memoir of his life
runs as follows : —

" One side of Sir William's life deserves special notice,
viz., his social influence, and the endeavour to popularise
the great institution with which he was officially con-
nected. These influences, developed at the Museum
of the College of Surgeons with great success, were
brought to bear on a much wider circle in connection
with the National Museum and as President of the
Zoological Society ; and no one was more fitted than he
— either for the courtly circle or the large gatherings of
working men who flocked on Saturday afternoons to the
galleries of the museum. In all his many and varied
social functions in his prominent positions he was ably
seconded by one who identified herself with his every
engagement, and to whom his last volume of collected
addresses was dedicated. A man of wide sympathies, he
is found at one time addressing a Civil Service dinner, at
another a Volunteer gathering, now descanting on evolu-
tion to a Church Congress, and again speaking at a
Mayoral banquet, a girls' school, or an industrial exhi-
bition. The strain on his physique demanded by these
efforts would have been great to an ordinary man, but
it must have been serious to one whose main energies

LIFE OF FLOWER 25

were heavily taxed by exhausting scientific work. His
powerful constitution was thus slowly but surely sapped,
yet to an eager mind and a generous heart, such as his,
little heed was paid to himself.

" Taken all in all, we shall not soon see so talented
and so accurate a comparative anatomist, so impressive
a speaker, so facile an artist, or a public man with a
higher type of character."

The zoological and anthropological side of Sir William's
work (with which the present writer is more competent
to deal than he is with his social relations and character)
is discussed at length in later chapters of this memoir ;
but a few observations may be here introduced on sub-
jects which scarcely come within the category of purely
scientific work.

At intervals during his life-time Flower communicated
a considerable number of letters to the Times and other
journals on topics more or less intimately connected with
animals and animal life. His sympathy with the crusade
against the tight bearing-rein, initiated by his father,
has already received mention. Equally marked was his
sympathy with the movement against the wearing by
ladies of the plumage of birds (other than game-birds,
etc.), and more especially the so-called " osprey plumes "
— really the breeding-plumes of the egrets and white
herons — -in the so-called decoration of their bonnets and
hats. The extreme cruelty involved — at least in the
case of the " osprey s" — in this practice, which entails
the destruction of the birds during the nesting-season,
when these nuptial plumes are alone donned, and con-
sequently in many instances the destruction of the help-

26 LIFE OF FLOWER

less young by slow starvation, was painted in forcible
language by more than one letter from Flower's pen.
Happily, as the result of these and other letters from
sympathetic naturalists, and the foundation of the Society
for the Protection of Birds (whose general aims were
likewise strongly advocated by Sir William), this detest-
able practice has been much diminished of late years,
although very much remains to be done in this way
before there can be any pretence of saying that birds,
even in this country, are treated by man as they deserve.

On another occasion he wrote, deprecating the whole-
sale destruction of bottle-nosed whales, which had been
advocated on account of the enormous quantities of fishes
devoured by these cetaceans. The question of pelagic
sealing in Bering Sea, and the best way of preventing
unnecessary slaughter, and thus eventual extermination,
of the sea-bears and sea-lions which visit the Pribiloff
Islands, also occupied his attention. And to him was
confided the duty of selecting the naturalists (Professor
d'Arcy Thompson and Captain Barrett-Hamilton) who
represented British interests in the International Com-
mission despatched to those islands in 1896 and 1897, to
report on the sealing generally and the habits of the sea-
bears, or fur-seals.

The best mode of disposing of the bodies of the dead
was also a subject to which Sir William devoted a share
of his attention, and he was a strong advocate for
cremation, or, failing this, for burial in wicker caskets
in light sandy soil.

The effects of the weather on " Cleopatra's Needle "
a comparatively short time after it had been set up on the
Thames Embankment $ the best means of utilising and

LIFE OF FLOWER 27

beautifying the gardens in Lincoln's Inn Fields ; and the
anomaly that while a heavy book could be sent by post
for a few pence, the charge on a heavy letter, at the
time in question, was considerable, were among many
other miscellaneous topics upon which he wrote.

In conversation it was Sir "William's great delight,
whenever possible, to turn the subject to his own par-
ticular studies and pursuits ; but, as mentioned by an
exalted personage on an occasion referred to in the
sequel, he never wearied his hearers. In a new or rare
animal, his delight was almost childish ; and the present
writer has often reflected how intense would have been
his pleasure had he been spared to see the first speci-
men brought to this country of that wonderful animal,
the okapi of the Semliki Forest.

To his official subordinates Sir William was also
readily accessible — possibly almost too much so ; and he
had always a word of praise for work faithfully carried
out under his direction, even if, from a slight misunder-
standing of his instructions, it had not been executed
precisely on the lines he himself would have desired.
He was never above lending a hand himself at manual
work ; and the writer well recollects an occasion at the
museum where a large animal was, with some difficulty,
being moved, and Sir William, although at the time
manifestly unfit for severe physical effort, would insist
upon aiding in the task.

As a host, Sir William Flower, ably seconded by
Lady Flower, had few rivals and no superiors ; and
although he absolutely detested tobacco, such was his
good-nature, that he would not deny his male friends
the luxury of an after-dinner cigarette — the idea of

28 LIFE OF FLOWER

ladies smoking would probably have been too much
even for his good-nature and tolerance of other people's
little weaknesses.

This chapter may be fitly brought to a close by
referring to the fact that it was largely owing to the
advocacy of Sir William that a statue of his intimate
friend Huxley was placed in the Central Hall of the
Natural History Museum, in company with those of
Darwin and Owen, so that u Huxley and Owen, often
divided in their lives, would come together after death
in the most appropriate place and amidst the most
appropriate surroundings." In this Valhalla of men
pre-eminent in British biological science of the nineteenth
century, Flower's own bust has found its home ; but of
this more anon.

In this connection it may be added that Sir William
Flower wrote for the Proceedings of the Royal Society
the obituary notice of Sir Richard Owen, who had been
his predecessor in his own two most important offices.
Despite the fact that Flower had been instrumental in
overthrowing at least one of Owen's " pet theories," this
biographical notice is written in the kindest and most
sympathetic spirit, giving full credit to the " immense
labours and brilliant talents " of this truly remarkable
man.

An earlier obituary notice from Flower's pen which
appeared in the same journal was devoted to a sketch of
the life of George Rolleston, the brilliant Professor of
Anatomy and Physiology of Oxford, whose comparatively
early death in 1 88 1 was one of the real losses to
biological science.

Of a more varied and popular nature were Flower's

LIFE OF FLOWER 29

reminiscences of his friend Huxley, which appeared in
the North American Review for September 1895. A
fourth biographical notice was the "eulogium" on
Charles Darwin, delivered by Sir William at the centenary
meeting of the Linnean Society, held on 24th May 1888,
in which the speaker acknowledged the incomparable
importance of Darwin's work, and incidentally avowed
his own acceptance of the doctrine of evolution. Com-
pared to Darwin's achievements, he observed, "most of
the work which we others do is but irregular, guerilla
warfare, attacks on isolated points, mere outpost
skirmishing, while his was the indefatigable, patient,
unintermittent toil, conducted in such a manner and on
such a scale that it could scarcely fail to secure victory
in the end."

CHAPTER II

AS CONSERVATOR OF THE MUSEUM OF THE COLLEGE
OF SURGEONS, AND HUNTERIAN PROFESSOR.
[1861-1884.]

THE death, in 1 86 1, of the eminent histological
anatomist, Professor Quekett, rendered vacant the
important post of Conservator of the Museum of the
Royal College of Surgeons of England in Lincoln's Inn
Fields. This museum, it is almost superfluous to
mention, was founded by the great anatomist, John
Hunter, and is hence often known popularly, although
not officially, as the Hunterian Museum.

" Originally a private collection," observed Flower
in his Presidential address to the Anatomical section of
the International Medical Congress, held in London in
the summer of 1 88 1, "embracing a large variety of
objects, it has been carried out and increased upon much
the same plan as that designed by the founder, with
modifications only to suit some of the requirements of
advancing knowledge. The only portion of Hunter's
biological collection which have been actually parted with
are the stuffed birds and beasts, which, with the sanction
of the Trustees appointed by the Government to see that
the college performs its part of the contract as custodians
of the collection, were transferred to the British Museum,
and a considerable number of dried vascular preparations,
which having become useless in consequence of the
deterioration in their condition, resulting from age and

32 LIFE OF FLOWER

decay, have been replaced by others preserved by better
methods."

In regard to the special purposes served by this
museum, it is mentioned in the same address that it is
maintained by the College of Surgeons " for the benefit
not only of its own members, but for that of the
profession at large, and indeed of all who take any
interest in biological science, whether the young student
preparing for his examination, or the advanced worker
who has here found materials for many an important
contribution by which the boundaries of knowledge
have been materially enlarged. To all such it is freely
open without fee or charge. Even the written or
personal introduction of members, still nominally required,
is never asked for on the four open days from any
intelligent or interested visitor; and on the one day of
the week on which it is closed for cleaning, facilities are
always given to those who are desirous of making
special studies, and to the increasing number of lady
students, whether artistic, scholastic, or medical. Artists
continually resort to the museum to find opportunities
of studying anatomy of man and animals, which no other
place in London affords ; and of late years it has been
the means of a still wider diffusion of knowledge, by
the visits which have been organised on summer
Saturday afternoons by various associations of artizans,
to whom a popular demonstration of its contents is
usually given by the Conservator."

Elsewhere in the same address we find the following
passage in connection with the teaching functions of this
body : —

"The various professorships and lectureships that

LIFE OF FLOWER 33

are attached to the College have grown up chiefly in
consequence of one of the conditions under which the
Hunterian Collection was entrusted to it by Government
— that a course of no less than twenty-four lectures
shall be delivered annually by some member of the
College upon Comparative Anatomy and other subjects,
illustrated by the preparations."

For some years previously to Professor Quekett's
death the offices of Conservator of the Museum of the
College and of Hunterian Professor of Anatomy had been
disassociated ; the occupant of the professorial chair at
the date in question being the late Professor T. H.
Huxley, while, as already mentioned, Quekett held the
Conservatorship. At an earlier date the two offices had,
however, been held conjointly ; Owen having fulfilled the
duties of both for a period of no less than twenty-five
years.

It may be added that, from the varied nature of the
collections under his charge, the Conservator is expected
to have a knowledge not only of comparative anatomy
and zoology, but likewise of palaeontology, physiology,
surgery, and pathology.

Such a wide range of knowledge is possible to few
men at the present day, but it was possessed to a very
considerable extent by Mr. Flower, even at this com-
paratively early stage of his career ; and as the appoint-
ment was congenial to his tastes, he applied for, and in
due course was elected to, the Conservatorship. The
acceptance of this involved the complete abandonment
of practice as a surgeon — a course of action which,
I believe, was never regretted. For eight years Mr.
Flower discharged the duties of the Conservatorship to
c

34 LIFE OF FLOWER

the satisfaction of the Council of the College ; and when,
in 1869, Professor Huxley found himself compelled by
the pressure of other duties to relinquish the Hunterian
chair, Flower was elected in 1870 to fill the vacancy.
He thus, for the first time in his career, became entitled
to the designation of u Professor," and he continued to
hold the two offices till his transference to the British
Museum. Here it may perhaps be well to mention, in
order to avoid confusion, that in the early part of
Flower's official career at the College of Surgeons the
post of Articulator to the museum was held by a name-
sake— Mr. James Flower.

For the first eight years of his connection with the
museum in Lincoln's Inn Fields the time and attention
of Flower were almost entirely devoted to the improve-
ment, augmentation, and rearrangement of the collections
under his charge ; and even when his duties as Hunterian
Professor claimed a large share of his time, no efforts
were spared to maintain the former rate of progress in
the museum.

To record in detail the improvements and alterations
made in the museum under Flower's able administration
would obviously not only occupy a large amount of
space but would, likewise, be wearisome to the reader.
Attention will therefore be concentrated on a few
salient features in connection with his work.

Although the anatomy of man naturally took a pro-
minent place in what used to be called the " physio-
logical" series, yet the preparations illustrating this
subject were in the main restricted to the viscera ; the
details of regional anatomy and of the arrangement and
distribution of muscles, vessels, and nerves not finding

LIFE OF FLOWER 35

a place in the original scheme of the museum. This
appeared to Flower to be a serious omission, and he
soon set to work to exhibit human anatomy — largely on
account of its paramount importance to the members of
the medical profession — on a much more extensive
scale than was previously the case, thereby affording by
means of permanent preparations a ready demonstration,
accessible at all times, of the structure of every part of
the human frame. To those who have already learnt
their anatomy, it has been well remarked, and who wish
to refresh their memory, or verify a fact about which
some passing doubt may be felt, or to those who are
precluded by circumstances from visiting the dissecting
room, the preparations of this series must prove of great
value.

In connection with this series may be mentioned
the fact that Flower published during the year he took
office the work which heads the list of his numerous
scientific contributions, namely, Diagrams of the
Nerves of the Human Body, exhibiting their Origin,
Divisions and Connections, which was favourably
received by the medical profession. In the preparation
of the anatomical series, Flower's almost unrivalled
powers of dissection stood him in good stead, and it
was probably during this period of his career that he
first acquired the rudiments of that originality and care
in museum arrangement and display that led to his being
called in after life by a German savant " the Prince of
Museum Directors."

Perhaps, however, the portion of the museum under
his charge in which Flower was most deeply interested
was that devoted to the dentition and osteology of

36 LIFE OF FLOWER

the different orders of the Mammalia. As regards
the osteological series, he expressed himself in the
above-mentioned address of 1 88 1 in the following
words : —

" On this head we claim to be somewhat in advance
of other museums, on account of the improvements
which have been made of late years in preparing and
articulating dried skeletons, and in displaying portions
of the bony framework in an instructive manner.
Formerly all the bones were rigidly fixed together, so
that their articular surfaces, if not actually destroyed,
were completely concealed, and no bone could possibly
be removed and separately examined. The aim of a
series of changes in the method of mounting skeletons
introduced here, and n9w adopted, more or less com-
pletely, in many other museums, has been to obviate all
these difficulties, and to make each bone, as far as
possible, independent of all the rest, whilst preserving
the general aspect and form of the entire skeleton.

" Another improvement in the osteological series in-
troduced within the last twenty years has been the forma-
tion of a special collection designed to show the principal
modifications of each individual skeleton throughout
the vertebrate classes, by the placing the homologous
bones of a number of different animals in juxta-posi-
tion. For convenience of comparison, the specimens
of this series are all placed in corresponding positions,
mounted on separate stands, and to each is attached a
label bearing the name of the bone and the animal to
which it belongs. This series is especially instructive
to the students of elementary osteology, and forms an
introduction to the general series."

LIFE OF FLOWER 37

It might have been added with perfect truth that this
series of the detached homologous bones of different
animals is of equal value and importance to both the
palaeontologist and the evolutionist ; since with its assist-
ance the former has a ready means of ascertaining the
nearest relationships of any fossil bone that may be brought
under his notice, while the latter is able to observe the
modifications that any particular bone has undergone
in different groups of animals. He may notice, for
instance, the elongation and slenderness distinctive of the
humerus, or arm-bone, of the bat, and contrast it with the
short and broad contour characterising the same bone in
the mole, while he may observe the elongation of some
of the bones of the hind-limbs distinctive of jumping
mammals, and their almost total disappearance in the
whales and dolphins. If the preparation of this series
of specimens (which appears to have been closely con-
nected with his lectures on the osteology of the
Mammalia, and their subsequent incorporation in the
well-known volume noticed in the sequel) had been
the sole limit of the work accomplished by Flower, it
would still have been sufficient to entitle him to the
gratitude of posterity.

It was while engaged in the development of the
collections of this museum that Flower made his im-
portant observations on the homologies and mode of
succession of the teeth of various groups of mammals, and
more especially the marsupials. Here, too, it was that
he undertook the investigations which led to his publica-
tion of a new scheme of classification for the Carnivora ;
and it was likewise during his Conservatorship that he
published his valuable series of observations upon the

38 LIFE OF FLOWER

comparative anatomy of the mammalian liver. These
and other kindred subjects may, however, better be con-
sidered at greater length in a later chapter. It must
suffice therefore, to add in this connection that during
Flower's term of office the unrivalled series of human
skeletons and skulls underwent a very marked and im-
portant increase.

By no means the least important part of Flower's work
in connection with the museum of the College of Sur-
geons was the compilation and publication of the
first two volumes of the Catalogue of Qsteological Sped-
mens the first, dealing with man alone, issued in
1879, anc* the second, written with the aid of his
assistant, Dr. J. G. Garson, and treating of the other
members of the mammalian class, in 1884. The import-
ance of these works consists in the fact of their being a
very great deal more than mere catalogues of the contents
of one particular museum. They are, on the contrary,
systematic treatises, embodying the views of their chief
author on such important subjects as zoological nomen-
clature and classification, and on the best method of
arranging museums which include specimens of the den-
tition and osteology of both living and extinct animals.
They accordingly deserve notice at some considerable
length, not only on this account, but as forming a record
of the great changes Flower introduced into the museum
at this period under his charge.

It appears that the first printed list of the contents
of the museum was published in the year 1831. In a
few years, however, it became evident that a work of a
more ambitious nature was required; and in January
1842, the then Conservator, Professor Owen, presented

LIFE OF FLOWER 39

a report to the Council, on the supreme advantage to be
gained by combining in the proposed new Catalogue both
the recent and the fossil osteological Catalogues. Acting
on this, the Committee of Council resolved that such a
Catalogue should be prepared and published, and the
duty of doing this was thereupon confided to Mr.
Owen.

For some reason or other, this excellent and far-seeing
resolution was not acted upon in its entirety ; and al-
though catalogues were in due course compiled by Owen
and published, the specimens belonging to animals still
extant were entered in volumes quite distinct from
these devoted to fossil bones and teeth ; while the two
series of specimens were likewise kept apart in the
museum itself. " Hence," as Flower subsequently ob-
served, " each series was incomplete, and required
reference to the other for its perfect illustration and
comprehension." These defects were remedied during
the administration of Flower, who not only arranged the
extinct specimens in their proper position among those
belonging to recent animals, but likewise followed the
same admirable plan in drawing up the Catalogues.
Later on, as we shall see in the sequel, he endeavoured
to introduce the same scheme into the Natural His-
tory Museum, but was prevented by the force of
circumstances from carrying his views into full effect,
although a small step in the right direction was ac-
complished.

The first part of the Catalogue of the osteological
specimens in the museum of the College which, as
already said, is devoted to man alone, is a most laborious,
accurate, and valuable work, dealing first with the

40 LIFE OF FLOWER

general osteology of man, then with his dentition, and,
thirdly, with the special characters of the osteology and
dentition of the different races of the human species —
a line of study which had formed the subject of several
of his lectures as Hunterian Professor. Nor is this by
any means all, for the introduction to this volume forms
a valuable compendium of the principles and rules of the
science of craniology ; the remarks on the mode of
measuring skulls, and the method of calculating from
such measurements " indices," whereby skulls of different
types can be compared with one another with exactness,
being models of accuracy and clearness, and rendered
the more valuable from the tables by which they are
accompanied. For measuring the cubic contents of
skulls, Flower was convinced that mustard-seed formed
the best and most accurate medium.

In addition to its value as a summary of the contents
of that portion of the museum of which it treats, and as
a precis of its chief author's views at that time as to the
classification of mammals, the second part of the Cata-
logue is of special importance on account of containing
an expression of opinion on the subject of zoological
nomenclature — a subject on which Flower had previously
spoken in no uncertain tones in his Presidential Address
to the Zoological section of the British Association at
the meeting held in Dublin in 1878, which is republished
in Essays on Museums.

The keynote of Flower's introduction to his Catalogue
was the urgent need of uniformity of nomenclature
among zoologists ; and on this, and the subject generally,
he expressed himself as follows : —

" As there is no matter of such great importance in a

LIFE OF FLOWER 41

catalogue as the correct naming of the objects described
in it, this part of the subject has engaged a very large
share of attention in preparing the work. I am not
sanguine enough to suppose that the names I have
adopted — always after careful research and considera-
tion— will in every case be deemed satisfactory by other
zoologists, yet I hope that some advance will have been
made towards that most desirable end — a fixed and
generally recognised nomenclature of all the best-known
species of mammals. Having selected the generic and
specific name which I considered most appropriate, I
have given the place and date of their first occurrence,
but have only admitted such synonyms as have found
their way into standard works, judging it better that
the remainder should be buried in oblivion, or at all
events only retained in professedly bibliographical
treatises. In selecting the name chosen, I have been mainly
guided by the views which have been gradually gain-
ing general currency among conscientious naturalists
of all nations, and which were formulated in what is
commonly called the Stricklandian Code, adopted by a
Committee of the British Association for the Advance-
ment of Science in 1842, and revised and reprinted by
the Association in 1 865) anc^ again in 1878. . . . The
regulations laid down in these codes for the formation
of new names are unimpeachable; and although some
of the rules for the selection of names already in existence
have given rise to criticism, and are occasionally difficult
of practical application when an endeavour is made to
enforce them too rapidly, they do in the main, when
interpreted with discretion and common-sense, lead to
satisfactory results. As what we are aiming at is simply

42 LIFE OF FLOWER

convenience and general accord, and not abstract justice
or truth, there are cases in which the rigid law of
priority, even if it can be ascertained, requires qualifi-
cation, as it is certainly not advisable to revive an obsolete
or almost tfnknown name at the expense of one, which
if not strictly legitimate, has been universally accepted
and become thoroughly incorporated in zoological and
anatomical literature ; and it is often better to put up
with a small error or inconvenience in an existing name
than to incur the much larger confusion caused by the
introduction of a new one."

These are weighty words of wisdom, and it must be
a matter for profound regret to all persons of thoroughly
philosophical and well-balanced minds that, by the newer
school of naturalists — led by an American section — they
have not only been received without the attention they
merit as coming from a man of Flower's wide experience
and mature judgment, but have been absolutely ignored
and the principle they inculcate treated with disdain and
contempt. Obscure names, frequently of the most
barbarous construction and sound, have been raked up
from all conceivable sources and substituted for the
well-known terms adopted by Flower and many of his
contemporaries ; while, to make matters worse, the
good old rule that no names antedating the twelfth
edition of the Sy sterna Nature of Linnaeus should
be recognised in zoological literature has, so far as
mammals are concerned, been treated absolutely as a
dead letter.

If it be asked what has been the result of thus ignor-
ing the deliberately expressed and matured views of a
judicial mind like Flower's, and whether we are per-

LIFE OF FLOWER 43

ceptibly nearer the attainment of uniformity in the matter
of biological nomenclature, the reply must be that the
subject is in a more unsatisfactory state than ever, and
the desired end as far off. It is perfectly true, indeed,
that a section of the students of the systematic side of
zoology have agreed among themselves to employ only
such names as they believe to be the earliest, quite irre-
spective of the obscurity of their origin or the rule that
such names should be compounded according to classic
usage. When, however, we take a broader survey of
the field of biology, we find that, almost to a man,
the anatomists, the palaeontologists, the geologists, the
evolutionists, the students of geographical distribution,
and other writers who discuss the subject from aspects
other than the purely systematic, adhere to the more
conservative side in respect of nomenclature. Moreover,
even if this were not the case, we should be but little
forwarder, seeing that in works like Darwin's Origin
of Species and Wallace's Geographical Distribution of
Mammals — which must remain classical so long as
zoology lasts as a science — the older style of nomen-
clature is used. Consequently, even if the proposed
emendations and changes were universally adopted, the
names employed by these and other contemporary
writers would still have to be learnt and committed to
memory by all zoological students ; so that, instead of
one series of names, as would have been practically the
case had Flower's proposal been loyally adopted by his
contemporaries and followers, we are compelled to know
and remember a double series.

Whether in the end there will not be a reversion
to the judicial and temperate conservative compromise

44 LIFE OF FLOWER

proposed by Flower — and almost everything in this
world is based more or less upon compromise — from
the headstrong and radical mode of procedure fol-
lowed by some of the younger zoologists, remains to be
seen.

Another subject on which Flower insisted very
strongly in the work under consideration was the
inadvisability of multiplying generic and family divi-
sions in zoology. Here again we may quote his own
words.

" I do not mean," he writes, " that with the advance-
ment of knowledge improvements cannot be continually
made in the current arrangement of genera. The older
groups become so unwieldy by the discovery of new
species belonging to them that they must be broken up,
if only for the sake of convenience ; newly discovered
forms which cannot be placed in any of the established
genera must have new genera constituted for them, and
fuller knowledge of the structure of an animal may
necessitate its removal from one genus into another ;
all these are incidents in the legitimate progress of
science. Such alterations should, however, never be
made lightly and without a full sense of responsibility
for the difficulties which may be occasioned by them,
and which often can never be removed. Complete
agreement upon this subject can never be expected, as
the idea of a genus, of an assemblage of animals to which
a common generic name may be attached, cannot be
defined in words, and only exists in the imagination of
the different persons making use of the expression ; but
there might be no difficulty in coming to some general
agreement, if individual zoologists would look at the

LIFE OF FLOWER 45

idea as held by the majority, and would not give way
to the impulse to bestow a name wherever there is the
slightest opening for doing so."

Here, again, we have golden words, which are
unfortunately ignored by a large number of the
zoologists and palaeontologists of the present day.
Most noteworthy, perhaps, in the whole passage, is the
emphasis given to the fact that generic groups are but
arbitrary creations of the human, and that, far from
being natural realities, they are solely and simply
formed as matters of convenience, so that their limits
are absolutely dependent upon individual or collective
opinion.

Consequently, when we hear it said — as we may — that
such and such an animal must constitute a genus by
itself, we may be assured that in nine cases out of
ten the speaker is talking nonsense. It may do so,
but this is purely as a matter of convenience for
purposes of classification. As examples of Flower's
broad and far-seeing way of looking at the limits of
generic groups, we may take his inclusion of the foxes
in the same group as the wolves, of the polecats and
weasels with the martens, of the two-horned with the
one-horned rhinoceroses, and of the blackbirds with the
thrushes ; and yet in all these instances, as in many
others, a large number of his successors — many of whom
cannot lay claim to anything approaching his intellectual
capacity and his power of separating essentials from
trivialities — cannot be content with the grand simplicity
of his scheme of classification. What they gain by
their involved systems and minute subdivisions is best
known to themselves — to the public such complexity

46 LIFE OF FLOWER

tends to render zoology, which ought to be one of the
most attractive and delightful of all sciences (and it was
one of Flower's endeavours to make it as much so as
possible), repulsive and distasteful.

The present writers opportunities of intercourse
with Professor Flower during his tenure of the Conser-
vatorship of the Museum of the College of Surgeons
were but few and intermittent, and restricted to the
latter part of that time, he may therefore be pardoned
for quoting from a biographer who appears to have
enjoyed more favourable opportunities in this respect.
Before doing so, however, the writer cannot refrain
from putting it on record that his own appointment to
the Geological Survey of India in the early seventies
was largely due to the influence of Professor Flower,
who had been his examiner in the Natural Science
Tripos at Cambridge, in December 1871.

To revert to the subject of Flower's personality
in connection with his appointment in Lincoln's Inn
Fields, his biographer in the " Year-Book " of the Royal
Society for 1901 writes as follows : —

"His tenure of office, viz., twenty-two years, as
Conservator of the museum of the Royal College of
Surgeons, was a splendid record of original and laborious
work, of great administrative capacity, and of unvarying
courtesy to visitors. The museum was most popular
under his management. There, amidst the almost
unrivalled collections, the tall, fair-haired, and earnest
worker was daily to be found, minutely studying,
comparing and measuring, or giving directions for the
extension, arrangement, and classification of the varied
and valuable contents. From a scientific point of view

LIFE OF FLOWER 47

no post could have been better adapted to the man or
the man to the post. With many and varied lines of
study lying conveniently around him, in the quietude
of an office less conspicuous and exacting than the
British Museum, in the full vigour of manhood, and in
the midst of sympathetic seniors, friends, and assistants,
it can well be imagined that Sir William's powers
attained great development, and that perhaps he
never felt so full of happiness and satisfaction with his
original work. It could not well be otherwise. His
conscientious devotion to duty, his remarkable skill
in devising methods of mounting, his artistic eye, his
tact with subordinates, and the esteem in which he was
held by zoologists and comparative anatomists at home
and abroad, give a clue to his subsequent career,
and show the training of one of the most accomplished
and courtly comparative anatomists our country has
produced."

But there was another side to Flower's work during
the greater part of his official connection with the Royal
College of Surgeons, and one which brought him into
wider and closer contact with the public than was the
case with his Conservatorship. This was the delivery
of the lectures which form the chief, if not the sole,
duty of the Hunterian Professor. According to the
statutes of the College, the annual course of lectures,
which is short, must be on a different subject each year,
but must in all cases be illustrated by preparations in
the museum.

The present writer was privileged to attend only
one of these courses — on the general structure of the
Mammalia — and is therefore not competent to speak

48 LIFE OF FLOWER

from experience of these lectures as a whole. Never-
theless the one course was amply sufficient to con-
vince him of the lecturer's special qualifications for
his task. Flower was indeed an ideal lecturer, endowed
with a fine presence, a suave and yet penetrating voice,
great power of expression, a slow and impressive
delivery, and, above all, an absolute mastery of his
subject (whatever it might be) down to the minutest
and apparently most insignificant details. For him,
every detail of structure, whether functional or rudi-
mentary, had a significance and a meaning, and he
would never rest satisfied till he had found out what
that meaning was, and had laid the whole of the
evidence on which he based his conclusions before his
audience. That audience, which generally included a
considerable number of the elder members of the
medical profession, as well as many well-known
zoologists and anatomists, invariably listened with rapt
attention to the story told so admirably by the accom-
plished lecturer.

Of these lectures, the first course, delivered in 1870
on the Osteology of the Mammalia, is perhaps the one
which has rendered Flower most widely known
among zoological students, since, as noticed below,
it became the basis of a valuable little volume.

His introductory lecture in February 1870 was
largely devoted to the subject of plan, or " type," in
Nature, and to the evidence in favour of the transmuta-
tion of species and evolution of organised beings — a
doctrine which was at that time by no means so widely
accepted, even among scientific men, as it is at the
present day. In this address the lecturer prefaced his

LIFE OF FLOWER 49

remarks by explaining that since the main part of his
anatomical knowledge was derived from the splendid
series of specimens and preparations in the museum
under his charge, so he intended to act as the mouth-
piece of the specimens themselves. After this intro-
ductory lecture followed the regular course for the
year, which was devoted to the Osteology of the
Mammalia, and it is perhaps this series which has
rendered the name of Flower most familiar to the
ordinary students of scientific zoology and comparative
anatomy, since it was published during the same year as
a volume in Macmillan's Manuals for Students, under
the title of An Introduction to the Osteology of the
Mammalia : being the Substance of a Course of Lectures
delivered at the Royal College of Surgeons of England.
Such was the success of this admirable little volume —
which has ever since formed the recognised text-book
on the subject of which it treats, that a second edition
was called for in 1876, and a third in 1885. In expand-
ing and revising the latter — in which, by the way, the
second half of the original title was dropped — the
author, owing to the pressure of official duties, called
in the assistance of Dr. J. G. Garson, of Cambridge, a
well-known zoologist and anatomist.

This book, to be properly appreciated, should be
studied in connection with the series of homologous
bones of different species of mammals arranged by
Flower himself in the museum of the College of
Surgeons, to which reference has been made in an
earlier part of this chapter, and from which most of the
illustrations were drawn. The figures of the dog's
skull have been reproduced in a large number of

50 LIFE OF FLOWER

zoological and anatomical works. The plan followed
in this volume forms an admirable model for all works
of a kindred nature. In the first chapter the author
discusses the classification of the mammalia; in the
second he describes the skeleton of that group as a
whole ; while in the remainder the modifications pre-
sented by the various bones in the different groups are
described in considerable detail. A special feature is
the sparing use of technical terms, and the careful
explanation of the meaning of those of which the use
was unavoidable. Besides being carefully revised and
brought up to date, the third edition differed from its
predecessors by including a table of the number of
vertebrae found in a large series of species.

In the following year (1871) the Hunterian course,
which comprised no less than eighteen lectures, was
devoted to the functions and modifications of the teeth
of mammals, from man to the monotremes, although it
was not known at that time that either of the two generic
representatives of the latter group really possessed
true teeth, the discovery of these organs in the
Australian duckbill not having been made till many
years later.

Among other subjects included in his Hunterian
lectures was the anatomy and affinities of the Cetacea,
or whales and dolphins, a group of mammals in
which Flower almost from the first displayed a
marked and special interest, and on which he became
one of the first authorities. Since, however, this
is a subject to which fuller reference is made in a
later chapter, it need not be further discussed in
this place.

LIFE OF FLOWER 51

In 1872 Flower's Huuterian lectures were devoted
to the subject of the digestive organs of mammals ;
these lectures being reported, with illustrations, in
the Medical Times and Gazette of the same
year.

Perhaps the most important and certainly the most
voluminous of these lectures was the series on the
" Comparative Anatomy of Man," which extended over
several years, the course for 1880 dealing especially
with the skulls of the Fiji, Tongan, and Samoan islanders.
The subject of anthropology, or the study of the
different races of mankind from a zoological stand-
point, shared indeed with that of the Cetacea a large
part of the Professor's attention, and the two together
formed, perhaps, his favourite lines of investigation.
In regard to the problems presented by the human
race when viewed from this standpoint, Flower has
expressed himself as follows : —

" Comparative anatomy is specially occupied in study-
ing the differences between one man and another,
estimating and classifying their differences, and especi-
ally discriminating between such differences as are only
individual variations (variations which, when extreme, are
relegated to the department of the teratologist) and
those that are inherited, and so become characters of
different groups and races of the human species.
Physical anthropology, moreover, extends its range
beyond merely comparing and registering these differ-
ences of structure. It also occupies itself with
endeavouring to trace their cause, and the circumstances
which may occasion their modifications. It endeavours
also to form a classification of the different groups of

52 LIFE OF FLOWER

mankind, and so to throw light upon the history and
development of the human species."

The races towards which special attention was directed
in these lectures were mainly those inhabiting the
islands of the Indian Ocean and the Pacific, namely, the
diminutive and degraded Andamanese, the Australians,
and their near but very distinct neighbours, the Tas-
manians, long since extinct, the Melanesians or Oceanic
Negroes, and the Polynesians. With the exception of
the latter, which the Professor regarded as an aberrant
and somewhat mixed modification of the Malay stock,
all these different island races were considered to belong
to the black or negroid branch of the human species ;
and it was suggested that the Andamanese were the
purest living representatives of a great "Negrito"
stock, which had been formerly widely distributed, and
had given rise to the true African negroes on the one
hand, and to the Oceanic negroes on the other. As
regards his view that the aboriginal Australians are
members of the negroid branch, it will be pointed
out in a later chapter that an alternative opinion has of
late years gained considerable favour among anthro-
pologists.

The Hunterian lectures of Flower were, however, by
no means restricted to the negro-like races of the
islands of the southern oceans. On the contrary, the
Professor devoted much attention in the course of trje
series to the various races to be met with in our Indian
dependencies, dwelling especially on the so-called
Dravidian (i.e. non- Aryan) tribes of the Nilgiris and
other districts of southern India, and likewise on the
still more remarkable and primitive Veddas of Ceylon.

LIFE OF FLOWER 53

The Mongols, as typified by the Tatars and Chinese,
and their relationship on the one hand to the Eskimo,
and thus with the " Indians" of America, and on the
other with the Malays, were also discussed at consider-
able length in these lectures.

The origin of the Egyptians was also a subject to
which much attention was devoted by the Hunterian
Professor. " The much vexed questions," he said,
" who were the Egyptians ? and where did they come
from ? receive no answer from anatomical investigations,
beyond the very simple one that they are one of several
races which inhabit all the lands surrounding the Mediter-
ranean Sea ; that they there lived in their own land far
beyond all periods of time measured by historical events,
and that in all probability it was there that they gradu-
ally developed that marvellous civilisation which has
exercised such a powerful influence over the arts, the
sciences, and the religion of the whole western world."
The truth of these suggestions has been fully confirmed
by the subsequent researches of Professor Flinders
Petrie.

As a whole, these Hunterian lectures on anthropological
subjects were a great success, and won for the Pro-
fessor increased respect and admiration from scientific
men of all classes. They paved the way for the pre-
paration of that invaluable Catalogue of the anthropo-
logical specimens in the museum of the College to which
allusion has already been made.

When in 1884 Professor Flower, on the resignation
of Sir Richard Owen, accepted the Directorship of the
Natural History Departments of the British Museum,
and was thus compelled to sever his official connection

54 LIFE OF FLOWER

with the Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons,
after a service of two-and-twenty years, the following
resolution, on the motion of Sir James Paget, seconded
by Mr. Erichsen, was unanimously passed by the Council
of the College : —

That the Council hereby desire to express to Mr.
William Henry Flower their deep regret at his resigna-
tion of the office of Conservator. That they thank him
for the admirable care, judgment and zeal, with
which for twenty-two years he has fulfilled the various
and responsible duties of those offices. That they are
glad to acknowledge that the great increase of the
museum during those years has been very largely due
to his exertions, and to the influence which he has
exercised, not only on all who have worked with him,
but amongst all who have been desirous to promote the
progress of Anatomical Science. That they know that
while he has increased the value and utility of the
museum by enlarging it, by preserving it in perfect
order, and by facilitating the study of its contents, he has
also maintained the scientific reputation of the College,
by the numerous works which have gained for him
a distinguished position amongst the naturalists and
biologists of the present time. And that, in their
placing on record their high appreciation of Mr. Flower,
the Council feel sure that they are expressing the opinion
of all the Fellows and Members of the College, and that
they all will unite with them in wishing him complete
success and happiness in the important office to which
he has been elected."

This is indeed a splendid, although by no means ex-
aggerated, testimonial to the success of Flower's

LIFE OF FLOWER 55

administration of the Museum of the College' of
Surgeons, and to the good and lasting work he there
effected — work which paved the way to the improve-
ments he was subsequently able to effect in the Natural
History Museum.

Note. — On Owen's retirement the post of Super-
intendent of the Natural History Departments of the
British Museum, which he had filled, was merged into
the new office of Director ; a wider scope being given
to the duties of the post.

CHAPTER III

AS DIRECTOR OF THE NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM
[1884-1898]

ON the resignation in 1884 by Sir Richard Owen of
the post of Superintendent of the Natural History
Departments of the British Museum, which four years
previously had been transferred to the magnificent
new building in the Cromwell Road, officially known
as the British Museum (Natural History), but more
commonly designated the Natural History Museum,
it was felt by all competent to form an adequate opinion
on the subject that Professor Flower was the one man
specially and peculiarly fitted for the post. And
accordingly, in the course of the year in question, he
was duly appointed to that most important and influential
position, which may be regarded as conferring upon its
occupant the status of the leading official zoologist
in the British Empire. It was in this position that
Flower became most widely known to the general
public ; and here that he received the honours, firstly
of C.B., and later on K.C.B., conferred upon him by his
Sovereign.

At the date when Sir William (then Professor)
assumed the reins of office, the position of Director of
the Natural History Museum was of a somewhat
anomalous and peculiar nature. At that time (as now)
the administration of the museum was divided into
57

58 LIFE OF FLOWER

four sections, or departments, namely Zoology, Geology
(or rather Palaeontology), Botany and Mineralogy, each
of which was presided over by a " Keeper," who had
practically unlimited control, both as regards finance and
general arrangement, of his own section. Consequently,
as regards these four departments, the Director had very
little control over the museum he was nominally sup-
posed to govern; and his functions were to a great
extent limited to regulating the t( foreign policy " of the
institution under his charge, that is to say, its relations
to the parent establishment at Bloomsbury, to the
Treasury, and to the world at large. In fact, as Sir
William once remarked to the present writer, the
Director at that time had to find a sphere of work
for himself.

Fortunately, such a sphere of work lay ready to hand,
and Flower immediately entered upon it with character-
istic energy and enthusiasm.

So long ago as the year 1859, Sir Richard Owen, in
one of his reports to the Trustees of the Museum,
recommended that the new building, in addition to
affording ample space for the general series of natural
specimens exhibited to the public, should likewise
include a hall, or other suitable apartment, for the
display of a series of specimens calculated to convey
an elementary idea of the general principles of systematic
natural history and biological classification to the large
proportion of the ordinary public visitor not conversant
with that subject. In other words, the feature of the
proposed section would be the exhibition of a series of
specimens selected to show the more typical characters
of the principal groups of organised (and, it was at the

LIFE OF FLOWER 59

time added, crystallised) forms. This, it was urged,
would constitute an epitome of natural history, and would
convey to the eye, in the easiest and most ready manner,
an elementary knowledge of the sciences in question.

In every modification which the plans of the new
building underwent, a hall for the purpose indicated in
the above passages formed, as Sir William has himself
remarked, a prominent feature ; being in the later stages
of the development of the building called, for want of
a better name, the " Index Museum."

The increasing infirmities of age, coupled with the
short time during which he presided over the Natural
History collections in their new home, combined, how-
ever, to prevent Owen from making any real progress
with the so-called Index Museum; and although he
furnished the idea of the scheme and planned the
general installation of the hall, the selection and
installation of its contents were left to his successor.
And, with the vast experience gained by Sir William
during his tenure of office in the Royal College of
Surgeons, they could not possibly have been left to
abler hands.

Here it is necessary to explain that, whether by
design or by accident, history sayeth not, the Index
Museum and the Central Hall generally were not
included in any one of the four great administrative
departments of the Museum, so that they consequently
came under the immediate and exclusive control of the
Director himself.

Nor was Flower long in setting to work at the task
which thus lay awaiting his master-hand ; and the
Index Museum, as fast as the exigencies of finance

60 LIFE OF FLOWER

and the difficulties of procuring suitable specimens
permitted, gradually assumed the shape and character
familiar to all visitors of the building, not that in these
respects it exactly followed the lines suggested by
Owen. In place of being, as was originally proposed,
a sort of epitome or index of the main collections in
the galleries, it developed rather into something " more
like the general introduction preceding the systematic
portion of treatises on any branch of natural history."

Whether, in view of this departure from the original
conception, Sir William, if starting de novo, would have
grouped all these separate collections in a single apart-
ment, or whether he would have split them up and
placed them at the commencement of the various series
in the exhibition galleries to which they respectively
pertain, may be a moot point. But, at anyrate, no
detriment to his work would ensue if such a splitting-up
should be thought desirable in the future. And con-
siderable advantages would undoubtedly result if the
series displaying the general morphology and anatomy
of the mammals were placed at the entrance of the
mammalian gallery, and so on with the other series at
present exhibited in the Index Museum.

Be this as it may, the series of specimens and pre-
parations arranged in the Index Museum under the
immediate superintendence of Flower is probably
unrivalled in its way, and displays in a marked manner
that attention to detail and that eye to artistic effect
which were among his special attributes. In the " bay "
devoted to mammals, special attention was given to the
display of specimens illustrating the various forms
assumed by the teeth in the different orders and

LIFE OF FLOWER 61

families, and their mode of succession and replacement ;
— subjects in which Flower always displayed special
interest, and in regard to which he made some important
discoveries. Here, too, were exhibited during the latter
half of his tenure of office the skeletons and half models
of a man and a horse, placed in juxtaposition, in order to
display the special adaptations and modifications for,
on the one hand, the upright posture and great brain-
capacity, and, on the other, for the high degree of speed
and endurance essential to an otherwise defenceless
quadruped living, in a wild state, on open plains. In
this exhibit, which forms the frontispiece to his well-
known and deservedly popular little work on The
Horse, Sir William always took an especial pride ;
and it was one of the first objects to which he directed
the attention of the many illustrious and distinguished
visitors who sought his guidance in viewing the collec-
tions under his charge. Another specimen in the same
" bay " of which he was especially proud is the
skeleton of a young chimpanzee, dissected by Dr. Tyson,
and described by that anatomist in a work published
in 1699, under the title of the Anatomie of a Pigmie,
being the earliest scientific description of any man-
like ape.

As regards the vertebrate "bays," Sir William
himself (always of course with the aid of trained
assistants) took an active part in the selection and
arrangement of the specimens. In the case of the
invertebrate groups, on the other hand, the task was
left more to his subordinates ; while as regards the
botanical section such relegation was, of necessity,
practically complete. Although it has been previously

62 LIFE OF FLOWER

referred to elsewhere, it may be mentioned that it was
during the work on the Index Museum the discovery of
the absence in certain groups of birds of the fifth cubital
quill-feather was made ; a fact now familiar to naturalists
under the title of diastaxy, or aquintocubitalism.

A special feature of the vertebrate section of the
Index Museum was the attention devoted to the mount-
ing of the skins of the mammals exhibited. In an
address delivered to the British Association in 1889,
Flower referred to " the sadly neglected art of
taxidermy, which continues to fill the cases of most of
our museums with wretched and repulsive caricatures
of mammals and birds, out of all natural proportions,
shrunken here and bloated there, and in attitudes
absolutely impossible for the creature to have assumed
while alive." And he was determined that the speci-
mens of this nature in the section of the museum under
his own immediate superintendence should be the best
of their kind, and should serve as models for the
renovation of these in the zoological galleries which he
had determined to undertake so soon as the opportunity
was afforded.

Neither was he less particular in regard to labels de-
scribing the exhibits. In the address already referred to,
he had written that " above all, the purpose for which
each specimen is exhibited, and the main lesson to be
derived from it, must be distinctly indicated by the
labels affixed, both as headings of the various divisions
of the series and to the individual specimens. A well-
arranged educational museum has been defined as a
collection of instructive labels, illustrated by well-selected
specimens." Most, if not all, of the descriptive labels in

LIFE OF FLOWER 63

the vertebrate series of the Index Museum were written
by the hand of the Director himself, while all came under
his personal supervision before being placed in the
museum. Labels of a descriptive nature had hitherto
been mainly, if not entirely, conspicuous by their absence
on the zoological side of the museum ; and for some time
the Index series alone afforded an example of the nature
of the Director's views on this all-important subject.
Nor was this all; for in addition to these descriptive
labels, other and larger labels were affixed in the cases,
bearing the names of the various "classes," "orders,"
and " families," to which the specimens respectively
pertained; the limits of the space occupied by each
group being indicated by black laths, varying in width
according to the grade of the group they demarcated.
By this means systematic divisions were clearly indi-
cated ; and on no consideration would Flower permit of
any single specimen being placed elsewhere than in its
proper systematic position.

Another innovation — so far at anyrate as the
zoological side of the museum was concerned — was the
placing of small maps alongside each specimen or each
group, to illustrate, by means of colour, the geographical
distribution of the species or group.

As regards the function of the Index Museum, it
may be admitted that instead of, as originally intended,
serving as an elementary guide in natural history to the
uninstructed public, this exhibit is more generally used
by serious zoological students, of whom numbers may
from time to time be seen, book in hand, and sometimes
under the guidance of a teacher, intently poring over
the contents of the cases. Such a use — although not

64 LIFE OF FLOWER

perhaps the prime object of a national museum — is,
however, at least as important as catering to the require-
ments of the ordinary visitor.

The display in systematic and serial order of the
external characters and internal anatomy of the leading
types of living and extinct animals and plants formed,
however, only a part of Flower's scheme of exhibits
for the central hall of the museum. Such specimens
occupied only the « ' bays " or alcoves on the west and
east sides, and there remained the large central floor
space for exhibits of other descriptions. Advantage
was taken of this to display examples of the phenomenon
of seasonal colour-change in birds, accompanied in some
instances, as in the ruff, by the development of special
plumes round the neck, or elsewhere ; the two species
selected for illustration being the aforesaid ruff and the
wild duck or mallard; the latter bird, together with
many other members of its tribe, being remarkable on
account of the assumption by the males at certain
seasons of the year of an "eclipse" plumage, almost
indistinguishable from that distinctive at all times of the
year of the female. Other cases were devoted to
showing some of the more remarkable kinds of variation
produced from a single wild stock by domestication
and artificial selection ; the species exhibited for this
purpose being several types of the common fowl, the
various kinds of pigeons, and the more remarkable
strains of the canary. The introduction of domesticated
breeds, whose peculiarities are entirely, in the outset at
anyrate, the result of man's interference with the
ordinary course of Nature, is a notable feature of this
portion of the work of Flower, and indicates his sense of

LIFE OF FLOWER 65

the important bearing of such artificial variations on the
doctrine of the evolution of organic nature. ' ' Mimicry "
by animals of one group of those of another also formed
an important part of this introductory series of exhibit ;
as did likewise the colour-adaptation of animals to their
inorganic surroundings. This latter phenomenon is
specially illustrated by a series of animals (mammals,
birds and reptiles) from the Libyan desert, which are
set up amid rocks and sand from the same locality so as
to imitate as nearly as possible the natural conditions.
And this case, together with one of these to be noticed
immediately, affords an excellent example of Sir William's
painstaking efforts to make the exhibits in the museum
as realistic as possible, and also his influence and per-
suasive power in inducing friends or correspondents to
aid his endeavours. For in both these instances the
animals and their inanimate surroundings were collected
on the spot by generous and enthusiastic donors.

The second instance of the adaptation of animals to
their surroundings is afforded by the two cases display-
ing respectively a summer and a winter scene in Norway,
with the birds and mammals in the one in their brown
dress, and in the other in their snow-white livery.
Since Sir William's death an Arctic fox, in the appro-
priate dress, had been added to each case, with a decided
improvement to the general effect.

Another exhibit of the above nature is devoted to the
phenomenon of albinism and melanism among animals ;
the two cases in which the specimens are shown
containing an extraordinary number of species, varying
in size from leopards to mice, in which these remarkable
colour-phases are respectively displayed. The admission

66 LIFE OF FLOWER

of such departures from the ordinary type into the
museum justifies, it may be mentioned, the introduction
of abnormalities of a more startling nature. Finally, as
illustration of a transition from one species towards
another, Sir William caused to be set up a series of
typical specimens of the common and the hooded crow,
together with offspring produced by the union of the
two, which are to a great extent intermediate between
the parent forms. In the same cases is a series of gold-
finches, showing a complete gradation between birds of
different coloration, and commonly regarded as belonging
to distinct species.

All the above instances serve to demonstrate, however
inadequately, Flower's broad conception of the field
to be covered by a national and educational museum,
altogether apart from the exhibition of specimens illustra-
tive of systematic natural history. It is no secret that
Sir William wished to add a series illustrative of the
present geographical distribution of animals on the
surface of the globe ; but, for lack of space, all that
could be attempted in this direction was the exhibition
of the British fauna, together with a map displaying the
division of the world into zoological regions, according
to the scheme of Messrs. Sclater and Wallace.

For several years, apart from administrative duties,
Flower devoted practically the whole of his available
time to the elaboration of the Index Museum and the
other exhibits in the Central Hall, although he found
opportunity to draw up a list of the specimens of
Cetacea (whales and dolphins^ in the collection of the
Museum, which was published by order of the Trustees
in 1885. Probably, indeed, this list was compiled

LIFE OF FLOWER 67

before active work on the Index Museum had com-
menced. It is a very useful work to the student of the
group, although limited to species represented in the
Museum collection.

In the autumn of the year 1895 there occurred,
however, an event, which may be said to have
revolutionised Flower's position in the Museum, and
gave him that immediate personal control over the
zoological collections which was essential to the full
development and perfection of his scheme of museum
reform and expansion. At that date Dr. Albert Giinther
retired from the position of Keeper of the Zoological
Department ; and it was then resolved by the Trustees
of the Museum that this post should be held by
Sir William (who, by the way, had been made C.B. in
1887 and K.C.B. in 1892), in conjunction with the office
of Director.

This arrangement was continued throughout the
remainder of Sir "William's term of office, and was like-
wise renewed when he was succeeded by Professor E.
Ray Lankester, the present holder of the combined posts.

This, then, gave Flower, as already stated, the
opportunity for which he had so long been waiting;
and in January 1 896 he undertook the supervision of the
reorganisation and rearrangement of the mammal gallery.

Here a digression of some length must be made,
in order to make the reader acquainted in a certain
degree with the conditions then prevalent in the
museum in connection with the galleries open to the
public. In the first place, as already indicated, while
the skins and bones of recent animals were contained
and exhibited in the Zoological Department, the remains

68 LIFE OF FLOWER

of their extinct relatives, and even the fossilised bones
and teeth of the living species, were relegated to
the Geological Department, which occupies the ground-
floor of the opposite side of the building. To make
matters worse, the skeletons of living mammals were
exhibited on the second floor of the zoological side of
the building (instead of, as they should have been,
on the ground floor), and thus as far away as they
could possibly be from those of their extinct predecessors.

Such an unnatural and illogical sundering of
kindred objects was altogether repugnant to the mind
of Flower, who in his address to the British Association
in 1889, to which allusion has been already made,
expressed himself as follows : —

" For the perpetuation of the unfortunate separation
of palaeontology from biology, which is so clearly a
survival of an ancient condition of scientific culture, and
for the maintenance in its integrity of the heterogeneous
compound of sciences which we now call ' geology,' the
faulty organisation of our museums is in a great measure
responsible. The more their rearrangement can be made
to overstep and break down the abrupt line of demarca-
tion which is still almost universally drawn between
beings which live now and those which have lived in
past times, so deeply rooted in the popular mind, and so
hard to eradicate even from that of the scientific student,
the better it will be for the progress of sound biological
knowledge."

The force of circumstances, coupled with the expense
which would have been involved, was, however, too
much for even a man with Flower's force of character
and determination, and the attempt to merge the

LIFE OF FLOWER 69

palaeontological withfthe zoological collections was con-
sequently perforce abandoned.1 As a compromise a
certain number of fossil specimens, or casts of the same,
were to be introduced among the recent mammals ;
while, conversely, a few skeletons of the latter were to
take their place among the remains of their extinct
forerunners.

In another mooted change, Sir William (as it lay
entirely in the Department under his own special con-
trol) was, however, more successful. Previously it had
been the practice in the museum to separate the skeletons
and skulls and horns of mammals from the mounted
skins, placing the former in a gallery by themselves,
known as the Osteological Gallery. As a result of this,
if a visitor wanted to ascertain the peculiarities of the
skeleton of any mammal of which the skin was exhibited,
he had to mount to the gallery above, and on his arrival
there, very probably forgot the essential features of the
skin. One of the first resolves in connection with the
rearrangement was to do away with the Osteological
Gallery altogether, and to place a certain proportion of
the skeletons and skulls in juxtaposition with, or near
by, the stuffed skins.

Another feature of the old method of exhibition in
vogue in the museum was the crowding together of a
vast number of specimens, good, bad, and indifferent
(mostly either the second or third), many of which were
duplicates, in such a manner that the great majority
could scarcely be seen at all, while the effect of those that

1 At the cost of a gap in the systematic series, a step has been subse-
quently made in this direction by the transference of the elephants and
sea-cows to the Geological Department.

70 LIFE OF FLOWER

were more or less visible was marred and obscured by
the adjacent specimens. To add to this unsatisfactory
state of affairs was the bad condition — due either to age,
to bad taxidermy, or both combined — of the bulk of
the specimens. Moreover, by some inconceivable
Vandalism, dating apparently from a very remote epoch
in the museum's history, every specimen was mounted
on a stand of polished sycamore, the effect of which
was to mar even a first-class specimen of taxidermy.
When to the above is added the fact that, beyond the
scientific and in most cases also the popular name of the
species, nothing in the way of indicating the serial
position of the various groups was attempted, while all
that was done in the way of descriptive labels was the
suspension here and there of frames containing extracts
from the " Guide" to the gallery, it may be imagined
that the state of the collection was very far indeed
behind the Director's idea of what it should be. More-
over, although in the case of the smaller animals a
systematic arrangement was followed, the cases con-
taining the larger species were disposed without any
reference to the systematic position of the latter.

In regard to such matters the Director had, in the
address quoted, already expressed his own views in no
uncertain tone, as is evident from the following passage
relating to the arrangement of specimens in the public
galleries : —

" In the first place," he writes, " their numbers must
be strictly limited, according to the nature of the subject
illustrated and the space available. None must be
placed too high or too low for ready examination.
There must be no crowding of specimens one behind

LIFE OF FLOWER 71

another, every one being perfectly and distinctly seen,
and with a clear space around it. ... Every specimen
exhibited should be good of its kind, and all available
skill and care should be spent upon its preservation and
rendering it capable of teaching the lesson it is intended
to convey. . . . Every specimen exhibited should have
its definite purpose, and no absolute duplicate should
on any account be permitted."

The purport of these golden words, which at the
time they were written indicated an entirely new
departure in museum arrangement and display, was, so
far as possible, followed in the rearrangement of the
mammal galleries. In the first place, the upper portions
of the cases, which were far too high above the ground
to permit of the proper exhibition of small specimens,
were, except in those containing large mammals,
closed up and employed for displaying the labels relating
to the larger groups and the maps illustrating their
geographical distribution. Then, again, the shelves,
in place of being arranged one above another like those
in a wardrobe, were reduced in number, and in most
instances in width, so as to be suited to the best possible
display of the specimens they were intended to carry.
Duplicate specimens of all kinds, as well as representa-
tives of species having but little general interest, were
relentlessly weeded out and consigned to the store
series ; while efforts were made to procure new
examples, mounted in the best possible manner, of
all species — and these were by far the great majority —
represented by badly - mounted, or old and faded
specimens. This part of the business was found, how-
ever, to be a matter which must necessarily occupy much

72 LIFE OF FLOWER

time, as it is impossible to procure examples of rare or
large species, in a condition fit for stuffing, at the
precise moment when they are required ; and there is
also the question of expense, which becomes very heavy
indeed when renovating and replacing a collection of the
proportions of that of the National Museum. This
portion of the work has therefore been going on
uninterruptedly ever since the first start was made, and
is indeed being continued at the present time ; for it
has been found by experience that a collection of this
nature, owing to the terribly bleaching effects of
sunlight, requires constant renovation, and that ex-
hibited museum specimens have only a definite and
limited period, varying to a considerable extent according
to the colour and nature of the hair in individual
species, during which they are fitted to be publicly
shown. Instead of a museum, when once arranged,
being " a joy for ever," it requires constant attention
and renovation, so that even, to keep them in proper
order, the mammal galleries alone in the Natural
History Museum demand a large proportion of the time
of one of the officials.

Not the least important of the changes made in the
mammalian galleries under the supervision of Sir
William Flower was the alteration of the colour of the
stands on which the specimens were mounted. These,
as already said, were of polished sycamore, the bright
reflection from which was exceedingly unbecoming
to the specimens, to say nothing of the obvious lack of
aesthetic fitness in mounting stuffed mammals upon
a polished surface of this nature. Before anything
in the way of a change was attempted, Sir William

LIFE OF FLOWER 73

sought the advice of his friend, the late Lord Leighton,
after consultation with whom, it was finally decided
that in future the stands should be of a good " cigar-
colour." This was effected, in the first instance, by
scraping and staining the original sycamore stands — a
work of great labour and expense ; but all new ones
were subsequently made of wood more easy to work,
walnut being employed in the case of the smaller sizes.
Even this improvement, great as it undoubtedly was,
did not, however, by any means represent the full
extent of the changes in this direction. After a short
experience of the aforesaid " cigar-coloured " stands,
it was found that the general effect was much improved
by gouging out the upper surface of these, with the
exception of a narrow rim round the margin, to a
depth of a quarter or half an inch, and covering it with
a thin layer of sand or earth, upon which leaves, pebbles,
etc., might be disposed if required. Instead of
"skating on sycamore tables," the animals were by
this means shown standing on a very good imitation of
a natural land surface.

Nor was this all. At an early period during the
rearrangement of the mammal galleries, Sir William
suggested that many of the larger species might be
mounted upon imitation ground-work covering the
entire floor of the cases in which they were exhibited.
This idea was forthwith put into execution in several
cases, notably in these containing the lions, the tigers,
and the group of fur-seals from the PribilofF Islands,
presented by Sir George Baden-Powell. Supposed
difficulties with regard to the cleaning of the glass of
the cases prevented this plan from being carried out to

74 LIFE OF FLOWER

any greater extent during Sir William's lifetime. But
these presumed difficulties were subsequently overcome,
and of late years a considerable number of the cases
containing the larger species of mammals have been
treated in this manner with excellent effect and a vast
increase to the general attractiveness of the museum.
In some instances a merely conventional ground- work has
been introduced, but in others a more realistic effect has
been attempted. A notable example of this is the
reindeer-case, in which the artificial ground-work is
covered with rocks, lichen, moss, and birch-stems
obtained from the reindeer pastures of Norway.
Similarly, the Arctic musk-oxen have been placed on an
imitation snow-slope. Although, as already said, much
of this work has been carried out since his death,
the idea originated entirely with Flower. A similar
grouping of animals on artificial ground-work — when
possible in imitation of the natural surroundings — has
been instituted in some of the American museums, but
whether following Flower's lead, or as an original
inspiration, I am unable to say.

At the time when Sir William took over the office of
Keeper of the Zoological Department (in addition to the
Directorship), the scheme then in vogue at the museum
scarcely assigned to man his real zoological position
— at the head of the order Primates in the mammalian
class. It is true that in the osteological gallery the
genus Homo was represented by a couple of skeletons
and a series of skulls. But in the gallery devoted to
stuffed specimens man, as an integral portion of the
exhibited series, was conspicuous by his absence. This
by no means suited the views of the Director, who in an

LIFE OF FLOWER 75

obituary notice of Owen quoted with approval a
statement of the great anatomist to the effect that no
collection of zoology could in any way be regarded
as complete without a large amount of space being
devoted to the display of the physical characteristics of
the various races of the human species. " The series of
zoology would lack its most important feature were the
illustrations of the physical characters of the human
race omitted." Such a series, thought Owen in 1862,
would require a gallery of something like 150 feet in
length, by 50 feet in width, for its proper display.
Stuffed specimens being, of course, out of the question,
the series was to include *' casts of the entire body,
coloured after life, of characteristic parts, as the head
and face, skeletons of every variety arranged side by
side for facility of comparison, the hair preserved in
spirit, showing its characteristic sign and distinctive
structures, etc." Had photography been in anything
like its present advanced position in 1862, no doubt its
aid would have been claimed in illustrating the various
racial types of the human species.

A gallery of anything like the dimensions required by
Owen was quite out of the question when Flower
planned the addition of an anthropological section to the
mammalian series, but one-half of the portion of the
upper mammal gallery now open to the public was
reserved for this purpose, so that man took his proper
place in the zoological series immediately after the
gorilla, chimpanzee, and the other man-like apes, which,
in their turn, were preceded by the lower types of
monkey. In the main, the specimens exhibited in this
series follow on the lines suggested by Owen, including

76 LIFE OF FLOWER

coloured casts of the upper part of the body, or the
head and neck alone, specimens of the hair, skulls,
skeletons, etc.

In addition to these is a series of photographs of
heads enlarged to natural size, and including, whenever
possible, a full face and a profile view of each individual
represented. Flower took great interest in these
photographs (as in the anthropological series generally),
and made several experiments before finally deciding as
to the scale to which they were to be enlarged. As
facilities for photographing in the museum itself were at
the time very limited, Flower enlisted the assistance of
Dr. H. O. Forbes, Director of the Liverpool Museums,
who entered enthusiastically into the project, and under
whose superintendence the great majority of the repro-
ductions from photographs now exhibited was pro-
duced ; the arrangement being that Liverpool should
have a copy of every photograph forwarded for
reproduction.

The races of mankind were arranged in the gallery
according to Flower's own scheme, fuller reference to
which is made elsewhere in the present volume. Flower
himself did not survive long enough to see the arrange-
ment he had plotted out fully installed. Of late years,
although some progress has been made in this direction,
the series of coloured casts of the various human races
has not increased so rapidly as Flower had hoped they
would ; but, nevertheless, a fairly representative series
had been brought together, and there is, at present,
ample space for additions when opportunities of acquiring
new specimens occur. It should be added that Flower
inaugurated the plan of making a collection of photo-

LIFE OF FLOWER 77

graphs of the various human races to be kept in the
study series.

It must not, however, be supposed that Flower,
during his too brief tenure of the office of Keeper
of the Zoological Department, by any means confined
his attention to the mammalian galleries. On the
contrary, he had with his own hands rearranged two
of the cases in the bird gallery, namely, those con-
taining the humming-birds and the woodpeckers ; and
shortly before his resignation he was planning the re-
arrangement of all the cases in this section ; a work
which since his death has been carried out to completion
on the same lines. In this connection it is, however,
only fair to state that in the obituary notice of Flower,
published in the " Year-Book" of the Royal Society for
1901, full justice has not been done to his predecessors.
The passage in question runs as follows : —

" Every effort was made to give the specimens
natural postures and natural surroundings. Thus, for
example, the tree on which the woodpecker was at
work, was cut down, the foliage modelled in wax, and
all the surroundings carefully kept. Hovering birds
were suspended by fine wire or thread. Birds making
nests in holes, such as the Manx shearwater, sand-
martin and kingfishers, either had the actual parts or a
model of these beside them, just as the nests of the
gannets and guillemots on the Bass Rock were shown
with their natural environment."

The obvious inference from this would be that the
cases of birds mounted in imitation of their natural
environment, inclusive of the splendid model of a portion
of the Bass Rock, with its feathered inhabitants placed

78 LIFE OF FLOWER

in the " pavilion " at the end of the bird gallery, are due
to the initiation of Flower. This is far from being the
case; and he himself would have been the very last
man to claim credit which was not his due. As a
matter of fact, the idea of mounting birds in this manner
originated with Dr. Bowdler Sharpe during the Keeper-
ship of Dr. Giinther ; the first case installed on these
lines being the one containing the common coot. The
series was continued during Dr. Giinther's term of office,
and was kept up by Flower after his succession to the
Keepership. As regards the Bass Rock model, this was
also installed during Dr. Giinther's Keepership, and, I
believe, while Owen was Superintendent. "What Flower
did initiate in the bird gallery was the rearrangement of
the wall-cases on much the same lines as the mammal
galleries, including the rejection of duplicates and
uninteresting species, and the replacement of worn-out
and badly-mounted specimens, by new and artistically
set-up examples, and the addition of maps and descrip-
tive labels. As a matter of fact, the replacement and
remounting of specimens have been carried out to a
much greater extent among the birds than has been
found possible with the mammals. A large number of
the birds have been mounted by Cullingford of Durham,
whereas nearly all the mammals have been set up by
three London taxidermists, namely Rowland Ward,
Ltd., Gerrard, and Pickhardt. This plan of employing
several firms of taxidermists, instead of giving all the
work to one, was much favoured by Flower, as it
gave rise to a healthy competition and rivalry, and
thus produced better results ; the different firms
being kept up to the mark by having their names affixed

LIFE OF FLOWER 79

to the more important examples of their respective
work.

Before his last illness Flower had in contemplation
a plan for treating the reptile and fish galleries (in
which the crowded exhibits displayed a monotonous
and dismal "khaki" hue) on the above lines, but this
work was left for his successor, by whom it is in course
of being carried out with characteristic energy and
originality.

There is, however, another section of the zoological
department of the museum which owes its conception
entirely to Sir William Flower, and which he was for-
tunately spared to complete. This is the whale-room,
or whale-annexe, as it might be better called ; for it is a
temporary structure of galvanised iron, lined with match-
boarding built out from the north-west angle of the
building, and entered by a passage leading out of the
corridor alongside the bird gallery. At the time that
Flower took over the Keepership of the Zoological
Department, with the exception of a skeleton of the
sperm-whale, placed in the middle of the Central Hall,
the specimens of Cetacea were housed in a portion of the
basement, never intended for a public gallery and very
unsuited to that purpose. The collection consisted
mainly of skeletons and skulls, together with samples
of whalebone and teeth ; for it had been found by
experience that it was a practical impossibility to mount
the skins of the larger whales for exhibition purposes.
Indeed, there is great difficulty in doing this even in
the case of the dolphins, porpoises, and smaller whales,
owing to the fact that their skins are saturated with
oil, which, even after the most careful preparation, is

8o LIFE OF FLOWER

almost sure, sooner or later, to exude through the pores,
and render the specimens unsightly, if not absolutely
unfit for exhibition.

Previously to Flower's attempt to make an adequate
and striking exhibition of the bodily form of the larger
whales, some of the smaller members of the group, such
as the killer-whale, had been modelled in America in
papier-mach£ ; one such model of the species in question
being exhibited in the museum. Flower, however,
conceived the idea of making models in plaster of even
the largest species of whales ; but, in order to save
both material and space, resolved that these should be
restricted to one-half of the animal, and should be con-
structed upon the actual skeleton, thereby ensuring,
with the aid, when possible, of measurements taken from
carcases, practically absolute accuracy as regards size
and proportion. In due course, after great labour and care,
such half-models were built up on the skeletons of the
sperm-whale, the southern right-whale, and two species
of fin-whale, or rorqual, while others were made of
some of the smaller kinds, such as the narwhal and the
beluga or white whale. Skeletons and skulls of other
species, together with complete models or stuffed skins,
or models of the head alone, of many of the porpoises
and dolphins, and other specimens illustrating the
natural history of the Cetacea, were likewise placed
in the new annexe, which was opened to the public
on Whit Monday 1897. Flower had always been im-
pressed with the great structural difference between
the toothed whales, as represented by the sperm-whale,
grampuses, porpoises, dolphins, etc., on the one hand,
and the whalebone whales, such as the right-whales,

LIFE OF FLOWER 81

humpbacks, and finners, on the other ; and in order to
emphasise this essential distinction, he caused the skele-
tons and models of the one group to be mounted with
their heads in one direction, while those of the second
were turned the opposite way.

Although it was found impossible to obtain a
skeleton of the Greenland right-whale, Flower was
able to persuade Captain Gray, a well-known whaler,
to carve a miniature model in wood, which gives an
excellent idea of the proportions, especially the huge
size of the head and mouth, of this interesting
species. Sketches on the walls of the building
illustrate the habits and mode of capture of the sperm-
whale, while others serve to show the bodily form
of species not yet represented by models.

At the time it was opened this exhibit was
absolutely unique ; and, in the belief of the writer,
it remains so to the present day. Unfortunately, the
size and design of the building, which has a row
of wooden posts down the middle, are such as greatly
to interfere with the proper effect of the specimens
exhibited ; and it is much to be hoped that means will
be found to erect a larger gallery, of a more permanent
nature, which will not only allow the contents of the
present structure to be adequately seen, but will likewise
leave space to permit of models of other species, such
as the humpback whale, to be added to the series.

Hitherto I have dwelt exclusively upon Sir William's
efforts to improve the museum under his charge, from
the point of view of the general public, that is to say, as
an institution for the exhibition of natural history
specimens. It must, however, be always remembered that

82 LIFE OF FLOWER

this was but one side of his task, and that he laboured
hard during the whole time of his official connection
with the museum not only to increase the study, or
reserve, collections (which are those on which the real
scientific work of the museum is almost exclusively
based), but to add to the space available for their
storage and for the workers by whom they are
studied.

Early in his career as Director he recognised the in-
sufficiency of the accommodation of this nature, although,
as usual, he expressed his opinion in extremely cautious
and guarded language. For instance, in his address as
President of the Museum Associations in 1893, a^ter
referring to the deficiencies of all, at that time, modern
museums, which were described as having been built
during a period when opinion was still divided as to the
proper function of institutions of this nature, he continued
as follows : —

" In none, perhaps, is this more strikingly shown than
in our own — built, unfortunately, before any of the
others, and so without the advantages of the experience
that might have been gained from their successes or their
shortcomings. Though a building of acknowledged
architectural beauty, and with some excellent features,
it cannot be taken structurally as a model museum
when the test of adaptation to the purpose to which it
is devoted is rigidly applied."

This unsuitableness, it may be added, is apparent not
only in the lack of accommodation for the study series,
but in the exhibition galleries themselves, where
architectural ornament interferes with the proper display
of the specimens, if indeed it does not absolutely

LIFE OF FLOWER 83

preclude their being placed on the walls, while an
excess of light (which has been partially remedied by
blocking up the lower portion of the windows in some
of the zoological galleries) causes the specimens to
become prematurely bleached and faded.

As regards the deficiency of accommodation for the
study series in the museum, Sir William endeavoured to
remedy this, so far as possible, by closing some portions
of the galleries previously open to the public — a step,
which, however necessary, tended to mar the building, so
far as exhibition purposes are concerned.

" While thus maintaining," writes his biographer in
the «« Year-book " of the Royal Society for 1901, « the
high scientific reputation of the great National Museum,
he continued to popularise the institution and science
by taking parties of working men round the museum on
Sundays, and occasionally a distinguished visitor, like
Dr. Nansen, would also join the group. Nor was he
less attentive to members of the Royal Family, or to
distinguished statesmen, like Mr. Gladstone, who
honoured the museum with their presence. Foreign
rulers, like the Queen of Holland, the Prince of Naples,
the Empress Frederick of Germany, and the King
of Siam, were also interested in the collection, so that
the popularity and welfare of the museum were greatly
extended by the Director's tact and urbanity. Formerly,
he had taken a leading part in interesting the Prince of
Wales (his present Majesty), who was present at
Sir James Paget's Hunterian Oration in 1877, *n the
Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons, and in
arranging for an exhibition of the Prince's hunting
trophies at the Zoological Society shortly afterwards,

84 LIFE OF FLOWER

so in his new sphere royal and other powerful influences
were utilised for the improvement and popularising of the
collection."

King Edward, as Prince of Wales, it may be added,
was a constant attendant at the meetings of the Board
of Trustees at the Museum during Sir William Flower's
administration ; and would occasionally, at the close of
the meeting, accompanied by the Director, make an
inspection of some of the galleries. As indicative
of the interest he took in the details of the arrangement
of the museum, it may be mentioned that on one of
these tours of inspection His Majesty took exception to
the position assigned to the head of a reindeer, and
desired that it might be placed elsewhere.

One other point in connection with Sir William's
administration may be noticed. Ever since its establish-
ment the hall and public exhibition galleries of the Natural
History Museum had been guarded during exhibition
hours by members of the Metropolitan Police — an
arrangement which involved a very large expense to
the country. Flower suggested that, provided two or
three police sergeants and constables were detailed for
special duty, the general work of guarding the collec-
tions could be equally well done by members of the
Corps of Commissionaires, thereby not only effecting
a considerable financial saving, but likewise a fresh area
of employment for a very deserving class of the
community. This arrangement, which was found to
work smoothly and satisfactorily, has remained in force
ever since. It may be added that the opening of the
museum for a limited number of hours on Sunday
afternoons commenced during Flower's tenure of office j

LIFE OF FLOWER 85

this arrangement being common to other institutions of
a like nature.

At the special recommendation of the Trustees, the
Treasury, when Sir William reached the age for
retirement, according to Civil Service rules, extended
his term of office for three years. A lengthened period
of physical weakness and prostration rendered it,
however, impossible for Flower to avail himself of
the whole of this extension, and in July 1898 the state
of his health was such that he felt himself compelled
to send in his resignation.

When this resignation was accepted by the Standing
Committee of the Trustees of the Museum, a special
Minute, signed by Lord Dillon, gave expression to the
regret felt by that body and the Trustees generally at
the retirement of Sir William, to whom every
compliment was paid as a worthy successor of Sir
Richard Owen, and as one who had done so much
towards the re-organisation of a museum pre-eminent
amongst institutions of its kind.

To enter upon the relations of Flower to his
subordinates in the Museum is treading upon somewhat
delicate ground ; it may be safely affirmed, however,
that to those who were in full sympathy and accord with
his way of looking at things and his schemes for the
general advancement and improvement of the institution
under his charge, no truer friend or kinder master
could possibly have been found. Owing to the fact
that the time of the permanent officials of the museum
is for the most part fully occupied in working out the
store collections, and registering and, when necessary,
describing new acquisitions, Sir William soon found

86 LIFE OF FLOWER

that he had not sufficient skilled labour at his disposal
wherewith to carry out the installation of the Index
Museum and his meditated improvements in the
exhibition series. Accordingly he obtained the assent
of the Treasury to employ the services of a few
scientific men not on the staff of the museum
for these purposes ; an arrangement which has been
continued under his successor.

Sir William's services to the museum, as well as to
science in general, are commemorated by a bust, executed
by Mr. T. Brock, and placed on the south side of the
entrance to the first " bay " of the Index Museum.
The funds necessary for this were raised by the
" Flower Memorial Committee," to which Mr. F. E.
Beddard, Prosector of the Zoological Society, acted as
Secretary. The bust, which in a profile view, is an
excellent likeness of the late Director, was unveiled on
26th July 1903, by the Archbishop of Canterbury, in
the presence of a representative assemblage of men of
science and personal friends, as well as of statesmen.

The proceedings were opened by Professor E. Ray
Lankester, the Director of the Museum, who moved
that Lord Avebury (better known in scientific circles as
Sir John Lubbock), the Chairman of the Memorial
Committee, should take the chair. The Chairman,
having taken his seat, expressed his pleasure in being
called upon to preside at the ceremony, on account of
his admiration and respect for the late Sir William
Flower, and for the services he had rendered to
zoological science.

Dr. Philip Lutley Sclater, the Secretary of the
Zoological Society, also spoke as an old and intimate

LIFE OF FLOWER 87

friend of the late Director, with whom he had been
brought into specially close contact during the long
period the latter presided over the Zoological Society.

The Archbishop of Canterbury, in a brief speech
previous to unveiling the bust, referred to two traits in
Flower's character which had specially struck his
Grace, and which were seldom found associated in the
same individual, one of these being his great love of
talking on his own special subjects of study, and
the other that, in spite of this, he never bored even the
least interested of his hearers. During his Directorship
Flower had done more to popularise the museum, and
museums generally, than had any other man of science.

The proceedings closed with the usual vote of thanks
to the Chairman.

In addition to writing numerous scientific memoirs,
Flower found time during his tenure of the Directorship
of the museum to prepare for publication two volumes of
considerable interest. The first was the one on The
Horse, issued in 1891, to which fuller reference is made
in a later chapter; and the second, the well-known
Essays on Museums, which appeared in 1 898, and consists
of a collected series of essays, articles, addresses, etc.,
on natural history and kindred subjects. A melancholy
interest attached to this volume (which is dedicated to
Lady Flower), since, as we are told in the preface, it
was compiled during a period of enforced restraint from
active occupation, which was evidently only the prelude
to the final breakdown.

It was also during his Directorship of the Museum
that The Study of Mammals saw the light.

CHAPTER IV

AS PRESIDENT OF THE ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY
[1879-1899]

DURING a portion of his tenure of office as Conservator of
the Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons, and
throughout the whole of his Directorship of the Natural
History Museum, Sir William Flower occupied the
Presidential Chair of the Zoological Society of London —
the oldest body of its kind in existence. The events
narrated in the present chapter occurred therefore
during the period covered by its two immediate pre-
decessors; nevertheless, this method of treatment,
although breaking the chronological order, has been
found, on the whole, the most convenient.

The Zoological Society, it may be observed, has
been in the habit of selecting its presidents from three
distinct classes. As in the case of the late Prince
Consort, the president may be a personage of exalted
rank without any claim to a special knowledge of
zoology. . On the other hand, as exemplified by the
Earl of Derby, who filled the office in the "fifties," the
Marquis of Tweeddale in the " seventies," and the Duke
of Bedford at the present time, he may combine high
rank with a more or less pronounced taste for and
knowledge of natural history, or, finally, as in the case
of the founder, Sir Stamford Raffles, he may be selected

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90 LIFE OF FLOWER

solely for his eminence as a zoologist or as a lover of
animals.

On the death of the Marquis of Tweeddale, 2pth
December 1878, Professor Flower was selected by the
Council to fill the presidential chair ; the appointment
being duly ratified at the Annual Meeting of the Society
held the following spring. From that date till the
year of his death, Flower was annually re-elected
president by the unanimous vote of the meeting. He
made an admirable president, his deliberate mode of
speaking being specially well adapted to the comments
expected from a scientific man occupying the presidential
chair at the scientific meetings. From his wide know-
ledge of zoology, anatomy, and palaeontology, he was
able to speak to the point on almost all the papers read
at the Society's meetings ; and those privileged to listen
to his remarks on any specimen in which he was speci-
ally interested will not readily forget the impressive
manner in which he brought its more salient and char-
acteristic features to the notice of his hearers. Many
of his more important scientific memoirs communicated
to the Society had been published in its Proceedings or
Transactions, before he accepted the presidential chair, in
days when the calls on his time were not so pressing
or so numerous as they afterwards became ; but even
after his elevation to the presidency several valuable
memoirs were received from him, the most important being,
perhaps, one on the classification and affinities of the
dolphins, to which fuller reference is made in another
chapter.

During Flower's presidency several important events
and changes occurred in the affairs of the Zoological

LIFE OF FLOWER 91

Society ; and although the management was to a very
great extent in the hands of the Secretary, Dr. P. L.
Sclater, yet in matters of extreme importance the
influence and opinions of the president always made
themselves felt — the more so, perhaps, that they were not
in special evidence in the case of trivial matters. In the
early eighties the Society suffered severely from financial
depression, its income in the years 1883 and 1884
falling far below its expenditure. Thanks, however,
to the patient sagacity and great administrative powers
of the president and secretary, the affairs of the Society
were soon put on a much more satisfactory basis, and
long before the death of the former, a state of prosperity
was reached which had seldom, if ever, been equalled,
and certainly never excelled.

In the first year of his presidency, Flower delivered
one of the Davis lectures in the Society's Gardens, the
subject being birds that do not fly, and he also lectured
in the two following years, selecting as his subjects in
1 88 1 firstly whales, and secondly dolphins. The
following year was notable on account of the sale to
the great American showman, Barnum, of the African
elephant " Jumbo." The reason for thus parting with
a valuable and interesting animal was that it was
unsafe to keep it in the gardens any longer. The sale,
as stated in the " Record" of the Society, caused a good
deal of public excitement, but the Council would not
have parted with the animal unless satisfactory reasons
for so doing had been laid before it by the responsible
Executive of the Gardens.

A still more important event occurred in 1883, namely
the transference of the Society's Offices and Library from

92 LIFE OF FLOWER

No 1 1 to No 3 Hanover Square ; the freehold of the
latter house having been secured by the Council at a cost
of £16,250. Such an important transaction would not,
we may be assured, have been allowed to take place
without the most careful deliberation and consideration
on the part* of the President.

On the first meeting of the Society, held on 1st April
1884, in its new premises, the President took the
opportunity of congratulating the Fellows present on
the very great improvement in the Meeting-room, the
Library, and the Offices, resulting from the change. The
Society had occupied the old house, No II Hanover
Square, for forty-one years, and had long since quite
outgrown the accommodation it afforded in all the three
departments mentioned above.

The income of the Society had increased from £9 1 37
in 1843 to £28,966 in 1883, with a corresponding
increase of clerical work. The Library had been almost
entirely formed since the earlier of these dates, and
was rapidly increasing, and the attendance of the
Fellows at the evening meetings for scientific business
had been such that the old rooms were quite inadequate
for their accommodation. The President trusted that
the increased facilities afforded by the move would be
taken advantage of by the Fellows in promoting, with
even greater zeal than previously, the work for which
the Society was founded, and in maintaining and extend-
ing the high reputation it had acquired in the scientific
world.

Few presidents or chairmen, whether of scientific
societies or of commercial companies, could have had a
more satisfactory record of progress to lay before their

LIFE OF FLOWER 93

supporters. The following account of certain events
in the Society's history which took place in 1887 is
extracted from the " Record " of its work : —

" In ordertomark the Jubilee of her late Majesty Queen
Victoria which took place this year, in some special way, it
was decided to hold the General Meeting in June in the
Gardens. After the usual formal business had been
transacted, the Silver Medal awarded to the Maharaja
of Kuch-Behar was presented to His Highness in person,
and suitably acknowledged. Professor Flower, C.B.,
President of the Society, then delivered an address,
which was printed as an Appendix to the Council's
Report. It dealt in general terms with the principal
points in the history of the Society, from its foundation
in 1826, tracing its progress throughout. The con-
nection of the Royal Family with the Society as Patrons
and Donors, the scientific meetings, the publications, the
Davis Lectures, the menagerie, and the recent improve-
ments in the Gardens were passed in review. The
President concluded by appealing for the continued
support of the public, either by becoming Fellows or by
visiting the Gardens, and expressed the hope that the
' brief record of the Society's history would show that such
support was not undeserved by those who have had the
management of its affairs.' A reception held after the
meeting was numerously attended by the Fellows and
their friends, and by many specially invited guests,
among whom were the Queen of Hawaii and Princess
Liliokalani, the Thakor Sahib of Limdli, H.H. the
Prince Devawongse, and the Maharaja of Bhurtpore."

The reception, which was held on 1 5th June in
brilliant weather, was a marked success ; the number of

94 LIFE OF FLOWER

foreign visitors in their native dresses lending additional
patches of colour to the scene. The President's address
on the occasion is reprinted in his Essays on Museums.

Referring to Sir William's death, the " Record" of the
Society has the following paragraph : —

" On 1st July [1899] the Presidentship of the Society
became vacant by the death of Sir William Flower who
had filled the office for more than twenty years. During
this period Sir William Flower had regularly occupied
the Presidential chair, and had been constantly engaged
on committees and on other matters connected with the
Society's affairs. In Sir William Flower the Society
lost a zoologist of the highest ability and a most able
and energetic President. To succeed him the Council
selected His Grace the Duke of Bedford as President,
and their choice was confirmed at the Anniversary
Meeting in 1900."

CHAPTER V

GENERAL ZOOLOGICAL WORK

IN the course of the preceding chapters numerous
more or less incidental references have been made to
the contributions of Sir William Flower to biological
literature, as well as to his many improvements in
museum organisation and arrangement. The more
detailed discussion of these has, however, been reserved
for the present and succeeding chapters, of which the
first two are devoted to the zoological and the third to
the anthropological side of his work, while in the
fourth his views in regard to museums and certain
other subjects are taken into consideration.

Regarding the general scientific work of Flower, it
must be confessed at the outset that this is characterised
in the main by its conscientious carefulness and exactness,
rather than by brilliancy of thought, conception, or
style. Great attention to detail, both as regards the
work itself and in reference to authorities (which were
always most carefully verified), is indeed one of the
leading features of his labours ; but there is no epoch-
making discovery or comprehensive generalisation which
can be associated with his name. In connection with
his careful attention to small and apparently trivial points
of detail, the following passage from Professor Ray

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96 LIFE OF FLOWER

Lankester's obituary notice in Nature may be appro-
priately quoted : —

" He did his own work with his own hands, and
I have the best reason to know that he was so deeply
shocked and distressed by the inaccuracy which unfor-
tunately crept into some of the work of his distinguished
predecessor, Owen, through the employment of dissectors
and draughtsmen, whose work he did not sufficiently
supervise, that he himself determined to be exceptionally
careful and accurate in his own records and notes."

In another passage of his notice the same writer
observes that : —

" Caution and reticence in generalisation certainly
distinguish all Flower's scientific writings. Whilst he
was on this account necessarily not known as the author
of stirring hypotheses, his statements of fact gained in
weight by his reputation for judgment and accuracy."

Flower's zoological studies related entirely to the
vertebrates and almost exclusively to mammals, although
he devoted a few papers, such as the one on the
gular pouch of the great bustard, and that on the skull
of a cassowary, to birds. Other groups, I believe, he
never touched. In the earlier years of his scientific
career, at anyrate, his labours were in the main devoted
to the anatomical aspect of zoology, such subjects as
the dentition, osteology, and the structure and characters
of the brain and viscera claiming a much larger share of
his attention than was bestowed on the myology. In
latter years the classification of the major groups of the
mammalia received much attention from Flower. Not
that he was in any way what is nowadays called
a systematist in zoology, that is to say, he took no

LIFE OF FLOWER 97

active part in describing new species (not to mention
sub-species, which had scarcely begun to be recognised
by naturalists in his day), or the redefining of generic
groups, and other work of this nature. Indeed, as
mentioned in the chapter devoted to his career at the
College of Surgeons, he was extremely conservative in
this respect, and strongly opposed to the modern
fondness for small generic groups, and also for changing
generic names which, from long association, have come
almost to be regarded as household words and integral
parts of the English language. The substitution of
the name Procavia, for Hyrax, the familiar title of the
Klip-dass, was, for instance, very repugnant to him,
although loyally accepted when found to be coming
into general use.

As a matter of fact, so far as my information goes,
with the exception of certain whales and dolphins, and
one extinct sea-cow (Halitherium)^ Flower never named
a new species of animal, nor, I think, did he ever pro-
pose a new generic term. Indeed, so opposed was he
to any interference with names of the latter description
in general use, that when several such were replaced
by alternative ones in the Study of Mamma/s, it was
expressly stipulated by him that the responsibility for
such substitution should rest solely with the present
writer.1

The modern system of forming trinomials to indicate
the local races, or sub-species, of mammals (as exempli-
fied by Giraffa camelopardalis rothschildi and Giraffa
camelopardalis capensis for two of the local phases of

1 An American writer has recently attributed, quite unjustifiably, the
names in question to Flower.
G

98 LIFE OF FLOWER

the species of giraffe typified by G. camelopardalis of the
Egyptian Sudan and Abyssinia), was practically in its
infancy during the active life-time of Flower, and it is
doubtful how he would have approved of the extent to
which it has been subsequently carried. Nevertheless,
that he appreciated the practice of recognising minute
local differences of colour, size, etc., in the same species
of mammals is evident from an incident within the
writer's own knowledge, which occurred at the Natural
History Museum, when a tray containing the local
phases of one of the species of the small squirrel-like
rodents known as chipmunks was submitted to his
notice; his remark being that such variations from a
common type ought in nowise to be ignored, if we
wished to make our knowledge of animals anything like
complete, and that the simplest way of indicating such
differences was to assign them distinct names.

In a general way, however, it may be said that Sir
William's sympathies were with the wider and more
philosophical aspects of zoology rather than with the
details of specific and sub-specific distinction (which, by
the way, have scarcely any more right to be regarded
as real philosophical science than has stamp-collecting) r j
and that, from a systematic standpoint, his interest was
very largely concentrated on the relationships existing
between the mammals of to-day and their extinct pre-
decessors. Several of his lectures and papers, and one
especially of his separate works (that on The Horse)
were indeed devoted to this aspect of the subject ; and

1 The present writer has the less compunction in making this assertion,
seeing that he himself is responsible for naming no inconsiderable number
of these so-called sub-species of mammals.

LIFE OF FLOWER 99

on every possible occasion he emphasised his conviction
of the necessity of studying (and arranging in museums)
living and extinct mammals together, if we wish to
make our science really practical.

As a matter of fact he had the strongest possible
objection to the recognition of " palaeontology " as a
science apart from zoology, and he even went so far as to
mildly rebuke (in his own inimitably courteous and
gentle manner) the present writer, for venturing to offer
to the public a volume on that subject. To a great ex-
tent, no doubt, he was perfectly right in this contention,
although there are points of view from which " palae-
ontological" works are decidedly convenient, even if their
existence and production cannot be logically justified.

As regards the particular groups of mammals (other
than man) in which Flower was more especially in-
terested, there can be no doubt that the Cetacea (whales
and dolphins) occupied the first position. And on this
subject he was undoubtedly one of the first authorities,
his only possible rivals in this country, at anyrate,
being Sir William Turner and Professor Struthers.
Next to this group came, perhaps, the marsupials,
in which a most important discovery was made by
Flower in regard to the succession and replacement of
the teeth.

Not even the most sympathetic of biographers would
attempt for one instant to assume that his hero — if a
zoologist — could by any possibility be infallible ; and it
has to be recorded that many changes and amendments
have had to be made in Flower's conclusions. Perhaps,
indeed, Sir William has been to some extent especially
unfortunate in this respect, owing to the extreme im-

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perfection of the state of our palaeontological (I must
use the objectionable word) knowledge at the date
when much of his best work was accomplished. At
that time, in spite of the enormous and valuable results
achieved by Cuvier, Owen, and others, mammalian
palaeontology may be said to have been in its infancy
compared to its present state ; the wonderful discoveries
in North and South America being then either unknown
or only partially revealed, and the same being the case
with regard to those made known by the working of
the phosphorite beds in Central France.

These and other discoveries have, for instance, totally
revolutionised our ideas with regard to the affinities
of the different families of the modern Carnivora, and
have thus led to considerable modifications of the views
entertained by Flower as to the relationships of the
members of this group.

Moreover, there is another important factor which has
to be taken into consideration. At the time when Sir
William wrote his celebrated memoir on the Carnivora,
the effects of what is now universally known among
zoologists as " parallelism in development " were quite
unrecognised. By " parallelism " (to abbreviate the
expression) is meant, it may be explained, a remarkable
tendency which undoubtedly exists among animals of
markedly diverse origin to become more or less like
one another in at least one important structural feature,
when living under similar physical conditions, or specially
adapted for similar modes of existence. Not unfre-
quently this structural resemblance, when closely ex-
amined, is found to be less close than might at first sight
have seemed to be the case ; the adaptation having been

LIFE OF FLOWER 101

brought about by the modification of structures origin-
ally more or less dissimilar towards a common type.
In other words, the same goal has been reached by two
different routes.

An excellent example of this is offered by the de-
velopment of " cannon-bones " in the lower portion of
the limbs of the members of the horse tribe on the one
hand and those of the deer and antelopes on the other ;
the object of this lengthening and strengthening of this
part of the limb being in both instances the attainment of
increased speed. Whereas, however in the one instance
the cannon-bone is formed from one original element,
in the other it is the result of the fusion of two such
elements. In this case, indeed, the difference in the
structure of this part of the skeleton in the two groups
is so apparent as to leave no reasonable doubt as to the
remoteness of the affinity between their respective
ancestors. There is, however, a certain group of ex-
tinct South American hoofed mammals in which the
cannon-bone corresponds exactly in origin and structure
with that of the horse, from which it might be assumed
that the two animals were closely related, whereas, from
other evidence, we know that they are widely sundered.
Approximately similar structures are therefore in many
instances far from being indications of genetic affinity
between the animals in which they respectively occur.
Before the occurrence of this parallelism was recognised
by naturalists as an important factor in their develop-
ment, such resemblances were, however, frequently
regarded as indications of a common parentage, so that
animals which had comparatively little to do with one
another were brigaded as members of the same assemblage.

102 LIFE OF FLOWER

With these preliminary remarks, we may proceed to
a general survey of Sir William's zoological work. It
has, however, been found convenient to relegate the
consideration of his numerous memoirs on the Cetacea to
the next chapter, by which means their connection will
be made more apparent than if they were discussed
among those on other sections of zoology.

The first zoological paper (and indeed the first
scientific work of any description) published by Flower
seems to have been that on the dissection of one of the
African lemurs belonging to the genus Ga/ago, which
appeared in the Zoological Society's Proceedings for 1852,
and serves to prove, as mentioned in the first chapter, that
the author was at that time holding the post of Curator
of the Museum of the Middlesex Hospital. The paper
itself is of little importance, dealing only with the
structure of the muscles and viscera of the species in
question.

The next paper on the list, which appeared in the
same journal for 1 860, was also written during this
part of Flower's career ; it is one of the few devoted
to the anatomy of birds, and describes the gizzard
of the Nicobar pigeon and other graminivorous
species.

About this time Flower began to devote his attention
to the mammalian brain ; his first contribution on this
subject being " Observations on the Posterior Lobes of
the Cerebrum of the Quadrumana, with the Description
of the Brain of a Galago? of which an abstract appeared
in the Proceedings of the Royal Society of London for
1860, although the complete memoir was not published
till 1862, in the Philosophical Transactions. The date of

LIFE OF FLOWER 103

publication of the abstract proves that these studies were
commenced, and the memoir in question completed, be-
fore (and not, as stated by Professor M'Intosh,1 after)
the author's appointment to the Conservatorship of the
Museum of the College of Surgeons, which did not take
place till the year 1 86 1 . The brain of another monkey
was also described in a paper on the anatomy of a South
American species then known as Pithed a monachus, which
appeared in the Zoological Society's Proceedings for 1862.
In the following year (1863) he published, in the
Natural History Review, a still more important com-
munication, dealing with the brain of the Malay siamang
(Hylobates syndactylus), one of the man-like apes, in
which it was shown that in this species (and probably
therefore in gibbons generally) the posterior part of the
cerebrum, or main division of the brain, overlapped the
cerebellum, or hind brain, to an even less degree than in
the American howling-monkeys, which had hitherto been
regarded as the lowest members of the group, so far as
the feature in question was concerned. That such a
feature should occur in one of the highest groups of
apes was certainly a remarkable and unexpected dis-
covery. Yet another contribution to the same subject
was made in 1864, when a paper appeared in the
Zoological Society's Proceedings on the brain of the red
howling-monkey, then known as Mycetes seniculus, but
of which the generic title is changed by many modern
naturalists to Alouata.

The earlier memoirs of this series published (in the
Philosophical Transactions), writes Professor M'Intosh in
the Scottish Review for 1900, "formed important evidence

1 Scottish Review, April, 1900, p. 5.

io4 LIFE OF FLOWER

in the discussions which took place between Owen and
Huxley in regard to the posterior lobe of the brain, the
posterior cornu, and the hippocampus minor. Professor
Owen, at the Cambridge Meeting of the British
Association in 1862, maintained, from specimens of the
human brain in spirit, and from a cast of the interior
of the gorilla's skull, that in man the posterior lobes of
the brain overlapped the cerebellum, whereas in the
gorilla they did not ; that these characters are constant,
and therefore he had decided to place man, with his
overlapping posterior lobes, the existence of a posterior
horn in the lateral ventricle, and the presence of a
hippocampus minor in the posterior horn, under the
special division Archencephala. Moreover, he grouped
with these features the distinctive characters of the foot
of man, and showed how it differed from that of all
monkeys. Flower's accurate investigations enabled
Huxley to substantiate his antagonistic position to
Owen's doctrines, viz., that these structures, instead of
being the attributes of man, are precisely the most
marked cerebral characters common to man with the
apes. Huxley also asserted that the differences be-
tween the foot of man and that of the higher apes
were of the same order, and but slightly different
in degree from those which separated one ape from
another.

The result of this controversy was the overthrow
(except in the mind and works of its author) of Owen's
separation of man on the one hand as the representa-
tive of a primary group — the Archencephala; and of
apes, monkeys, Carnivora, Ungulates, Sirenians, and
Cetaceans on the other hand, as forming a second

LIFE OF FLOWER 105

group — the Gyrencephaia.1 As will be seen from the
above quotation, this result was very largely due to the
work of Flower, although it was brought into prominent
notice by the superior fighting powers of Huxley, who
was also an older, and at the time at anyrate, a better-
known man. It may be added that Flower himself
subsequently abandoned the use of the term " Quadru-
mana," as distinguishing apes and monkeys on the one
hand from man, as " Bimana," on the other, and
brigaded all altogether under their Linnaean title " Pri-
mates."

The contributions of Flower to our knowledge of
(and, it may be added, to the clearing up of miscon-
ceptions in regard to) the mammalian brain, was, how-
ever, by no means confined to the Primates (man, apes,
monkeys, and lemurs). On the contrary, his researches
were of equal — if not indeed of more — importance with
regard to the structure of that organ in the lower
groups of the class, namely the marsupials and the
monotremes (duckbill platypus and spiny ant-eater).

In the well-known Reade Lecture of 1859, Professor
Owen expressed himself as follows with regard to the
brain of the two groups last mentioned : —

"Prior to the year 1836, it was held by comparative
anatomists that the brain in mammalia differed from that
in all other vertebrate animals by the presence of the

1 From the extract from Professor M*Intosh's notice of Flower's work
above cited, it might be inferred that Owen first proposed the terms
Archencephala, Gyrencephaia, etc., at the Cambridge Meeting of the
British Association in 1862. This is not so, as these terms were used by
him in a paper read before the Linnaean Society in 1857, and also in his
Reade Lecture " On the Classification and Geographical Distribution of
the Mammalia," delivered at Cambridge on loth May, 1859, and pub-
lished in London (by J. W. Parker) as a separate volume the same year.

io6 LIFE OF FLOWER

large mass of transverse white fibres called 'corpus
callosum' by the anthropotomist ; which fibres, over-
arching the ventricles and diverging as they penetrate
the substance of either hemisphere of the cerebrum,
bring every convolution of the one into communication
with those of the other hemisphere, whence the other
name of this part — the ' great commissure.' In that
year I discovered that the brain of the kangaroo, the
wombat, and some other marsupial quadrupeds, wanted
the ' great commissure ' ; and that the cerebral hemi-
spheres were connected together, as in birds, only by
the { fornix ' and ' anterior commissure.' Soon afterward
I had the opportunity of determining that the same
deficiency of structure prevailed in the Ornithorhynchus
(duckbill) and Echidna (spiny ant-eater)."

Owen's conclusions with regard to the absence of the
great connecting band of fibres between the hemispheres
of the marsupial brain were first published in the Philo-
sophical Transactions for 1837 ; those, with regard to the
same lack in the monotremes, being added in Todd's
Cyclopedia of Anatomy and Physiology, Article " Mono-
tremata." In the latter article it was also stated that
the brain of the echidna was further distinguished from
that of other mammals by the circumstance that whereas
in the latter the portion of the brain known as the optic
lobes consists of four lobes (corpora quadrigemina), in
the echidna and duckbill there are only a pair of such
lobes (corpora bigemina.)

In consequence of this supposed lack of the corpus
callosum in their brains, Owen separated the marsupials
and monotremes from other mammals in a primary group
by themselves, under the title of Lyencephala.

LIFE OF FLOWER 107

Flower's attack on these conclusions was commenced
by a paper which appeared in the Zoological Society's
Proceedings for 26th January 1864, entitled "On the
Optic Lobes of the Brain of the Echidna," in which it
was conclusively demonstrated that these structures
resembled those of the higher mammals in being four-
lobed.

More important still was his memoir " On the Com-
missures of the Cerebral Hemispheres of the Marsupialia
and Monotremata, as compared with those of the
Placental Mammals," which was published in the Philo-
sophical Transactions of the Royal Society for 1865. In
this was shown, it was thought, the existence in both
monotremes and marsupials of a distinct, although very
small, corpus callosum connecting the two hemispheres
of the brain ; the anterior commissure, which in the
higher mammals is the smaller connecting band, being in
this instance much the larger.

Recent researches have, however, tended to show
that Owen was after all right in denying the existence
of a corpus callosum in the latter groups. Even allow-
ing for this correction, the result of this important
paper was to discredit among all zoologists capable
of forming an adequate opinion on the subject Owen's
proposed fourfold division of the Mammalia into Lyen-
cephala, Lissencephala, Gyrencephala, and Archen-
cephala. And these terms have now completely
disappeared from zoological literature.

In those days it required no considerable amount of
courage to attack a man of Owen's established social
and scientific position on an important subject like this ;
and Flower's triumph was therefore the more con-

io8 LIFE OF FLOWER

spicuous. Of course such of these discoveries as are
valid, if they had not been made by him, would have
been made later on by somebody else, as they merely
required accurate dissection and observation. But this
may be said of every discovery of a like nature ; and
Flower is entitled to all credit for having worked out
the subject in the way he did. It may be added, that,
with our present knowledge of mammalian morphology,
a classification based on the characters of the brain is
manifestly based on a misconception from first to last ;
the degree of development and specialisation of that
organ being purely adaptive features, and therefore not
dependent upon structural relationships. Had Owen's
classification been maintained, it would have been
necessary to assign the primitive Carnivora and Ungulata
to a group quite apart from the one containing their
existing representatives.

In the light of modern research, it cannot now
be held that the result of Flower's investigations
in this direction was to demonstrate the existence
of a corpus callosum to the brain in all the members
of the mammalian class.

In another paper, dealing with the brain of the Javan
loris, published in the Transactions of the Zoological
Society, Flower made a further contribution to the
study of this part of the organism. Previous to the
appearance of the memoir on the marsupial and mono-
treme brain, Flower had published, in the Natural
History Review for 1864, one on the number of cer-
vical vertebrae in the Sirenia (manati and dugong).
Apart from several papers on whales and dolphins,
which, as already mentioned, are reserved for considera-

LIFE OF FLOWER

109

tion in a later chapter, the next noteworthy zoological
contribution from Flower's pen appears to be one on
the gular pouch of the great bustard, published in the
Zoological Society's Proceedings for 1865. This pouch,
which, it may be observed is confined to the cock-bird,
and inflated during the breeding season, is a very re-
markable structure, which has recently been described
in greater detail by Mr. W. P. Pycraft.

Two years later (1867), Flower contributed to the
same journal a .paper on the anatomy of the West
African chevrotain, Hyomoschus aquaticus, or, as it is now
called, Dorcatherium aquatlcum. The specimen on
which the paper was based was the first of its kind
which had ever been dissected — at least in this country ;
and the result of its examination was to confirm the view
that the mouse-deer, or chevrotains, cannot be included
among the true ruminants, or Pecora, but rather that
they form a group (Tragulina), in many respects inter-
mediate between the latter and the pigs and hippopota-
muses, or Suina. To the essential difference between
the chevrotains and the musk-deer, which have often
been confounded, Flower was very fond of recurring
in his later writings.

About the year 1 866 Sir William began to turn his
attention to the teeth of mammals, more especially as re-
gards the mode in which the milk or baby series is suc-
ceeded by the permanent teeth, and the general homology
of the milk with the permanent, and of the individual
teeth of both series with one another. As the result of
these investigations he published during the next few
years the following papers on this subject. First and
most important, one on the development and succession

no LIFE OF FLOWER

of the teeth of marsupials, which appeared in the
Philosophical Transactions for 1 867 . In the following year
he delivered before the British Association at Norwich
a paper entitled " Remarks on the Homologies and Rela-
tion of the Teeth of the Mammalia," which was published
in the Journal of Anatomy and Physiology for the same
year. In that year he also published, in the Proceedings
of the Zoological Society, an account of the homology
and succession of the teeth in the armadillos. A general
sketch from his pen of the dentition of mammals
was published in the British Medical Journal for 1871,
while in the Transactions of the Odontological Society
for the same year, appeared a paper on the first, or milk,
dentition of the Mammalia.

By far the most important of this series of papers is
undoubtedly the one on the succession and homologies
of the teeth in the marsupials or pouched mammals ;
and it is the one which contains, perhaps, the most note-
worthy discovery made by Flower.

Owen had previously pointed out that marsupials
differ from ordinary placental mammals in having four
(in place of three) pairs of cheek-teeth at the hinder
part of the series which have no milk, or deciduous,
predecessors, and are therefore, according to the usual
rule, to be regarded as true molars, in contradiction to
premolars, in which such deciduous predecessors are
generally developed. He considered, however, that all
the premolars in the kangaroo (and therefore presumably
in other marsupials) as well as the incisors or cutting
teeth, and the canines or tusks, were preceded by milk-
teeth. Flower, on the other hand (who it is only just
to add had a much fuller series of specimens of young

LIFE OF FLOWER in

marsupials on which to work than was available to
Owen), was enabled to show that in the Marsupialia
only one pair of teeth in each jaw, at most, is preceded
by a milk-tooth. The tooth, in question, is the fifth
from the posterior end of the series, and whereas in the
adult animal it differs in character from those behind it,
its deciduous predecessor resembles the latter. The
replacing tooth was further considered to correspond
with the fourth or last premolar of placental mammals,
while the replaced tooth was regarded as the only one
in the entire series corresponding to the milk-teeth of
placental mammals. This view rendered it necessary,
of course, to regard all the four pairs of cheek-teeth
behind this abnormal one as corresponding to the true
molars of placentals, as had been done by Owen, thus
making, as already mentioned, marsupials to differ from
ordinary placentals by possessing four instead of three
pairs of these teeth.

Before proceeding to notice an amendment which has
been proposed in regard to the homology of the one
successional tooth of the marsupials, certain other
features connected with it and its predecessor discussed
by Flower may be briefly mentioned. He noticed, to
quote from an admirable epitome of his observations on
this point, drawn up by Professor M'Intosh in the Scottish
Review for 1900, " that there were considerable differ-
ences in the various genera as to the relative period of
the animal's life at which the fall of the temporary molar
and the evolution of its successor takes place. In some,
as in the rat-kangaroos, it is one of the latest, the
temporary tooth retaining its place and its functions
until the animal has nearly, if not quite, reached its full

ii2 LIFE OF FLOWER

growth, and is not shed until all the other teeth are in
position and use. On the other hand, in the Tasmanian
wolf the temporary tooth is very rudimentary in size
and form, and is shed or absorbed before any other
teeth enter the gum. Anterior to the period of Sir
William Flower's communication, mammals had been,
in regard to the succession of their teeth, divided into
two groups — the Monophyodonts, or those that generate
a single series of teeth, and the Diphyodonts, or those
that develop two sets of teeth, but, as he pointed out,
even in the most typical Diphyodonts the successional
process does not extend to the whole of the teeth,
always stopping short of those situated most posteriorly
in each series. The pouched animals (marsupials), he
stated, occupied an intermediate position, presenting, as
it were, a rudimentary diphyodont condition, the suc-
cessional process being confined to a single tooth on
each side of each jaw."

All this is unexceptionable. Flower, however, went
further than this, and claimed that the true molar teeth
of mammals correspond serially with the permanent
premolars, canines, and incisors, and not with their
deciduous predecessors. And he therefore urged (as
indeed must be the case on these premisses) that the
whole dentition of adult marsupials corresponds with
the permanent dentition of placentals. A further infer-
ence from this is that the milk-teeth, instead of
being an original development, may rather be a set
superadded to meet the temporary needs of mammals
whose permanent set is of a highly complex type.

To review the objections which have been raised
against these views would be entering on a very difficult

LIFE OF FLOWER 113

question, and one in regard to which uniformity of
opinion by no means exists among naturalists even at the
present day. It may be mentioned, however, that from
the circumstance of the later milk-premolars resembling
(as was noticed by Flower in the case of the one tooth
replaced in marsupials) the true molars rather than the
permanent premolars, it has been suggested that the
milk-dentition is serially homologous with the true
molars. And on this view, the entire dentition of
marsupials (with the exception of the one replacing
tooth) corresponds to the milk-dentition of placentals.
Possibly, however, the larger number of incisors which
distinguish many of the carnivorous marsupials from the
placentals may be due to the development of teeth
belonging to the permanent series with those of the
milk-set, and both persisting together throughout life.
Be this as it may, it is evident, on the above view of
the serial homology of their dentition, that marsupials,
instead of as Flower supposed, showing the commence-
ment of a milk-dentition, really exhibit the decadence
of the permanent series.

In this respect they display a precise similarity to the
modern elephants, as indeed was pointed out by Flower
in his original paper, although on a false premiss, for
he at that time regarded the anterior cheek-teeth of the
elephant as the representatives of the permanent pre-
molars, whereas they really correspond with the milk-
premolars.

One objection has indeed been raised with regard to

the identification of the adult marsupial dentition with

the milk-set of placentals, namely, the existence in certain

marsupialia of rudimentary teeth belonging to an earlier

H

n4 LIFE OF FLOWER

set than the one functionally developed. This has been
got over by regarding these rudimentary germs as the
representatives of a prelacteal series.

Passing on to another point, it has to be noticed that
exception has also been taken to Flower's view that the
replacing tooth of marsupials and its deciduous prede-
cessor correspond to the fourth, or last premolar of
placentals. The question has been discussed in con-
siderable detail in the Zoological Society's Proceedings
for 1899 by the present writer, who had for material
the dentition of certain extinct South American mammals
quite unknown to science at the time Flower's paper
was written. The result of these comparisons was to
render it evident, in the present writer's opinion, that
the replacing tooth of the marsupials corresponds to the
third, instead of to the fourth, premolar of placentals.
From this it follows that marsupials agree with
placentals in possessing only three pairs of true molars ;
the first of the four teeth in the former behind the
replacing tooth being the last milk-premolar (which is
never replaced) instead of, as supposed by Flower, the
first true molar. This conclusion, as pointed out by
the present writer in the paper referred to above, had
really been arrived at years previously by Owen, who
also believed the replacing tooth to correspond to the
third premolar of placentals.

In thus bringing marsupials into line with placentals
as regards their dentition, this later interpretation
accords well with recent discoveries in regard to other
parts of the organisation of the former animals. It
should, however, be mentioned that the newer view is
by no means accepted by all zoologists, although it has

LIFE OF FLOWER 115

received the support of the well-known American
paleontologist, Dr. J. L. Wortman,1 who is specially
qualified to form a trustworthy opinion on a point of
this nature.

Finally, whatever be the eventual verdict as to the
serial homology of the marsupial dentition as a whole,
and also as to that of the replacing premolar, Flower
must always be credited with the discovery that
marsupials replace only a single pair of teeth in each
jaw by vertical successors.

The other papers on dentition referred to above as
having been "written by Flower about the same time
are, although interesting in their way, of far less im-
portance than the one published in the Philosophical
Transactions. Indeed the one read before the British
Association in 1 868 and published in the Journal of
Anatomy and Physiology for the same year, is little more
than a recapitulation of the results arrived at in the former.

The paper on the development and succession of the
teeth in the armadillos, published in the Zoological
Society's Proceedings in 1 868, is, on the other hand, of
considerable interest on account of its confirming the
fact first mentioned by the French zoologist, Professor
Paul Gervais, but generally overlooked by subsequent
writers up to that time, that the common nine-banded
armadillo (^Tatusia peba) differs from its relatives in
replacing some of its teeth by vertical successors. This
at the time was an unexpected feature in any member
of the so-called Edentate mammals ; and tended further
to break down the supposed hard and fast distinction
between monophyodonts and diphyodonts.

1 American Journal of Science , vol. xi. p, 336 (1901).

n 6 LIFE OF FLOWER

Closely connected with the subject of dentition is a
paper on " The Affinities and Probable Habits of the Ex-
tinct Marsupial, Thylacoleo carnifex (Owen)," communi-
cated by Flower to the Geological Society of London
in 1868, and published in the Quarterly Journal of that
body for the same year. After alluding to the paper
on marsupial dentition, Professor Ray Lankester, in his
obituary notice of Sir William in Nature^ of 1 3th July
1899, observes of the communication under considera-
tion that — " The next most striking discovery which
we owe to Flower seems to me to be the complete and
convincing demonstration that the extinct marsupial,
called Thylacoleo carnifex by Owen, was not a carnivore,
but a gnawing herbivorous creature like the marsupial
rats and the wombat — a demonstration which has been
brought home to the eye even of the unlearned by the
complete restoration of the skull of Thylacoleo in the
Natural History Museum by Dr. Henry Woodward."

If we are to believe later authorities, Flower's
demonstration of the herbivorous nature of the creature
in question was by no means so " complete and con-
vincing " as the learned Professor would have us believe ;
but of this anon.

The first important paper on Thylacoleo, which was a
creature of the approximate size of a jaguar, whose
remains are met with in the superficial formations of
Australia, was one by Owen, published in the Philo-
sophical Transactions for 1859. From the general
characters of the skull (which was at that time only
known by fragments), and especially from the rudi-
mentary condition of the hinder cheek-teeth and the
enormous size of the secant replacing premolar, which

LIFE OF FLOWER 117

bears a certain superficial resemblance to the carnassial
tooth of the cats, its describer was led to the conclusion
that Thylacoleo was a marsupial carnivore, and " one of
the fellest and most destructive of predatory beasts."
Probably Owen's views at this time were, that the
creature had its nearest living relatives in the members
of the Australian family Dasyurida, such as the
Tasmanian devil (Sarcophllus ursinus), and that it bore a
relationship to the existing carnivorous marsupials some-
what similar to that presented by a lion to a dog. At
this time there was no evidence to show whether the
large teeth near the front of the jaw, the existence of
which was indicated in the original specimen merely by
its empty socket, was a canine or an incisor ; and though
Owen was inclined to regard it as the former, he ad-
mitted that it might be an incisor, in which event he
recognised that the affinities of the animal would be
more with the herbivorous, or diprotodont section of
the marsupials, and more especially the phalangers, or so-
called opossums of the colonists. This is clearly in-
dicated by the following sentence appended by Sir
Richard to his discription : — " If, however, this be
really the foremost tooth of the jaw, it would be one of
a pair of terminal incisors according to the marsupial
type exhibited by the Macropodidez (kangaroos) and
Phalangistida (phalangers)."

In 1866, after receiving additional specimens from
Australia, Owen was enabled to describe the greater
part of the skull and the entire dentition of Thylacoleo.
The large anterior teeth were clearly recognised to be
incisors, which, in Owen's opinion, "proved the
Thylacoleo to be the carnivorous modification of the

n8 LIFE OF FLOWER

more common and characteristic type of Australian
marsupials, having the incisors of the lower jaw re-
duced to a pair of large, more or less procumbent and
approximately conical teeth, or * tusks.' " Not only did
the additional evidence serve to confirm Sir Richard in
his view of the carnivorous propensities of Thylacoleo,
but he considered that in this extinct form we have "the
simplest and most effectual dental machinery for pre-
datory life and carnivorous diet known in the mammalian
class. It is the extreme modification, to this end, of the
diprotodont type of marsupialia."

Beyond, however, admitting its affinities with the
diprotodonts, Sir Richard Owen does not appear in this
later paper to have regarded Thylacoleo as a near relative
of any of the existing forms ; but in the article on
'* Paleontology " in the eighth edition of the Encyclopaedia
Britannica, published in 1859? ^e seems to have con-
sidered it allied to Plagiaulax of the Purbeck strata of
Dorsetshire, which had been shown by Dr. Hugh
Falconer to be probably of herbivorous habits.

Sir William Flower, in the aforesaid paper in the
Geological Society's Quarterly Journal for 1 868, while
agreeing with Owen that Thy/acoleo was related to the
diprotodont rather than to the polyprotodont carni-
vorous marsupials, differed from the conclusion that it
was a carnivore. While the large cutting premolar teeth
were considered by Owen to resemble the carnassial
teeth of a lion, Flower was struck by their similarity to
the corresponding teeth of the rat-kangaroos and the
phalangers. After discussing the other teeth, he
concluded that "in the number and arrangement of
these teeth . . . Thylacoleo corresponds exactly with

LIFE OF FLOWER 119

the modern families Macropodid* and Phalangistidx, and
differs completely from the carnivorous marsupials."

After alluding to the small size of the brain-cavity
and the large space for the attachment of the powerful
muscles which worked the lower jaw, and suggesting
that these features may be only to be expected in a
large form as compared with the smaller members of
the same group, Flower concluded that the habits of all
species with the same general type of dentition must
necessarily be similar. And, on these premisses, it was
urged that Thylacoleo must in all probability have been
a vegetable-feeder. The large premolar may seemingly
have been " as well adapted for chopping up succulent
roots and vegetables, as for dividing the nutritive fibres
of animal prey." It is further suggested that the
nutriment of Thylacoleo "may have been some kind of
root or bulb ; it may have been fruit ; it may have been
flesh." While in conclusion it is argued that the
organisation of the animal did not countenance the idea
of its preying on the large contemporary marsupials.

Omitting reference to Owen's reply to this reversal of
his conclusions, and also to certain comments and addi-
tions to the arguments by other writers, we may pass on
to a paper by Dr. R. Broom, published in the Proceedings
of the Linnean Society of New South Wales for April
1898, and entitled "On the Affinities and Habits of
Tt>ylacoleo."

In this the author admits that the animal in question,
as suggested by Owen in his second paper, and more
fully determined by Flower, was undoubtedly a dipro-
todont, and that it was nearly allied to the modern
phalangers. With the 'latter it is indeed closely con-

120 LIFE OF FLOWER

nected by the recently discovered extinct Burramys,
which differs from the existing members of that group
by the large size of the secant premolar.

After discussing numerous points in connection with
the problem, Dr. Broom states that those who believe
Thylacoleo to have been carnivorous, " evidently consider
that the molars have been reduced through their functions
being taken up by the large premolars. But could the
large premolars take up the molar function — could they
grind ? Even those who favour the idea of Thylacoleo
being a vegetable-feeder, admit that the premolars were
cutting teeth, and the difficulty of imagining a herbi-
vorous animal without grinders is got over by supposing
that its food was of a soft or succulent nature."

But for the creature to have lived on succulent roots
and bulbs, the vegetation of that part of Australia
where it lived must, urges Dr. Broom, have been quite
different from what it is at the present day ; and we
have no justification for assuming any such change to
have taken place. Moreover, an animal that could only
slice, and not grind up, vegetable food, could apparently
subsist only on ripe fruit, and such is to be met with in
Australia only at one season of the year, when, owing
to the abundance of frugivorous mammals, little, i£ any,
is allowed to fall to the ground.

"It is probably however," adds Dr. Broom, "un-
necessary to discuss further what food Thylacoleo could
possibly have obtained, when we have, as I hold with
Owen, the most satisfactory proof from its anatomical
structure as to what food it did obtain. It must be
admitted that Thylacoleo had enormous temporal muscles,
and it is perfectly certain that such muscles would not

LIFE OF FLOWER 121

have been developed unless the animal required them.
For what could such powerful muscles be required ?
Most certainly not for slicing fruits or succulent roots
and bulbs, nor would they be required even for the
slicing of fleshy fibres. Temporal muscles are chiefly
used apparently for closing the jaws more or less forcibly
from the open position, while for the more complicated
movements of mastication it is the masseter and pterygoid
muscles that are chiefly used. Hence in all carnivorous
animals the temporals are largely developed and the
n:asseters more feebly, because the killing process
requires a very forcible closing of the jaws, and the
work to be done by the premolars and molars is com-
paratively little. In herbivorous animals the conditions
are reversed. The jaws are here rarely required to be
opened widely or to be closed with any great force,
while a very large amount of grinding work has to be
done ; hence the temporals are rarely much larger than
the masseters, and often very much smaller. When
we look at Thylacoleo, ^we find not only the enormous
temporals and only moderate masseters, but everything
else about the skull seems to be built on carnivorous
lines. Owen has shown the wonderful similarity which
exists between the molar machinery in Thylacoleo and
the lion, and it is hard to conceive as possible any other
cause giving rise to such a specialisation in Thylacoleo
than that which led to a similar specialisation in the cat
tribe. Another most striking feature is to be seen in
the condition of the incisors. Leaving out of considera-
tion the mode of implantation and structure of the teeth
— both confirmatory of the carnivorous hypothesis —
there is one point which appears to me absolutely con-

122 LIFE OF FLOWER

elusive on the subject. Unless Owen's figures are
altogether unreliable, the lower incisors are quite unlike
those of the herbivorous diprotodonts. In such typical
forms as the wombat, the koala, the kangaroo, and the
phalanger, though there are different modifications of
the arrangement, we have the lower incisors meeting
the upper, and forming with them an instrument for
biting through a moderately tough, fibrous tissue, and
even in the very small diprotodonts, so far as I am
aware, the lower incisors always meet and work against
the upper. But in Thylacoleo we have powerful pointed
incisors which do not meet, but overlap. Though
technically incisors, they are not intended to incise, but
to pierce and tear. Such powerful pointed and over-
lapping teeth, though easily explained on the theory
that they were intended to kill and tear animal prey,
were never surely provided merely to pierce succulent
vegetables or ripe fruit. It might of course be argued
that the incisors were used as weapons of defence, as
apparently are the canines in the baboon ; but against
this idea is the objection that the incisors were put to
some use which wore them down and blunted them
more rapidly than would be the case if they were
chiefly used on the rare occasions when the animal had
to defend itself; and furthermore, were such the case, the
temporals would not require to be greatly developed.

" There is thus, in my opinion, no other conclusion
tenable than that Thylacoleo was a purely carnivorous
animal, and one which would be quite able to, and pro-
bably did, kill animals as large as or larger than itself."

This opinion as to the carnivorous habits of Thylacoleo
is approved by Mr. B. A. Bensley, who has specially

LIFE OF FLOWER 123

studied the Australian marsupials in a memoir recently
published in the Transactions of the Linnean Society of
London.

If it be correct, it reduces the net result of Flower's
investigations on this subject to a fuller realisation of
the diprotodont affinities of the animal under considera-
tion.

In the latter part of 1 868, Mr. Flower, as he was
then styled, communicated to the Zoological Society a
most important paper entitled, " On the Value of the
Characters of the Base of the Cranium in the Classification
of the Order Carnivora," which was published in the
first part of the Society's Proceedings for the following
year. Working on the lines suggested twenty years
previously by Mr. H. N. Turner, who had pointed out
the importance of certain peculiarities of the base of the
skull in the Mammalia, and especially demonstrated their
constancy in the different groups of the Carnivora,
Flower felt himself justified in dividing, on these char-
acters, the existing terrestrial representatives of that
order into three groups. These were — 1st, the
^Eluroidea, comprising the cats (Felidts), the fossa
(Cryptoproctidts), civets and mongooses (Viverrid<e)y the
aard-wolf (Proteleidte), and hyaenas (Hyanidd) ; 2nd, the
Cynoidea, including only the dogs, wolves, and foxes ;
and grd, the Arctoidea, embracing the bears (UrwV<r),
the raccoons and pandas (Procyonida and £lurid<z), and
the weasels, badgers, otters, etc. (Mustelida).

One result of this classification from cranial character-
istics was to determine definitely the position of the
American cacomistle (Bassaris or Bassariscus), which
had been previously uncertain. The genus, as might

£24 LIFE OF FLOWER

have been expected from distributional considerations,
turned out to belong to the raccoon family (Procpnides).
As regards the relationship of the three main groups,
subsequent palaeontological discoveries have fully con-
firmed Flower's view that the Canidte (Cynoidea) occupy
a central, or perhaps rather a basal, position. Palaeon-
tology has, however, also shown that the bears ( Uru&e)
are a direct offshoot from the Canlda, and accordingly
that, if extinct forms be taken into consideration, there
is no justification for the separation of the two families
into distinct primary groups (Arctoidea and Cynoidea).
On the other hand, fossil forms from the Lower
Tertiaries of France and of North America seem to de-
monstrate the existence of a complete gradation between
the primitive dogs (Canida) and the ancestral civets
(Piverridx), thus breaking up the distinction between
the Cynoidea and the -&luroidea. Nor is this all, for
according to the French palaeontologists, there exists a
transition between the primitive civets and the early
weasels (Musttbd*) ; which, with what has been already
stated in connection with the bears, indicates that the
Arctoidea is a more or less artificial group, the members
of which have come to resemble one another to a
certain degree in regard to the .characters of the base
of the skull, owing to " parallelism." In this connection
it is somewhat curious to note that a certain resem-
blance, which had been pointed out by Turner as exist-
ing between the mongooses or ichneumons (Viverrida)
and the weasels, was regarded by Flower as of no
importance. Finally, it is by no means improbable that
the cats (Felldai] have no near kinship with the civets, but
may be directly sprung from more primitive Carnivora.

LIFE OF FLOWER 125

It is thus evident that Flower's proposed triple
division of the Carnivora is not altogether in accord
with palseontological, or phylogenetic, evidence. An
amendment is to merge the Cynoidea in the Arctoidea,
and thus retain only two groups. The observa-
tions recorded in the paper have a high permanent
value, in respect to the structure of the carnivorous
skull.

Another paper by Flower appeared in the Zoological
Society's Proceedings for 1 869, dealing with the anatomy
of the soft parts of that remarkable animal, the African
aard-wolf (Proteles cnstatus). Although the skeleton
had been previously described, no information had
hitherto been available with regard to the viscera. In
the paper discussed in the foregoing paragraphs Flower,
from the external characters, coupled with those of the
dentition and skeleton, had regarded the creature as the
representative of a distinct family, intermediate in some
respects between the Hycenidte and the Viverrldtz. The
result of the examination of the viscera was in the main
to support this conclusion, although it showed that the
Proteleidts are more closely allied to the Hy&nldte than
the author had previously believed to be the case. The
aard-wolf may, indeed, be regarded as a kind of small
and degraded hyaena, with an almost rudimentary type
of dentition, suitable to the soft substances on which it
feeds.

Passing on to the year 1870, we have to note the
appearance of two separate works bearing Flower's
name. The first of these was the Introductory
Lectures to the Course of Comparative Anatomy, de-
livered at the Royal College of Surgeons in that year.

126 LIFE OF FLOWER

Far more important was the issue of the first edition
of that invaluable text-book, An Introduction to the
Osteology of the Mammalia. Since, however, mention
of this work had been already made in an earlier chapter,
it need not be further alluded to in this place.

During the same year, exclusive of those on the
Cetacea, several papers were published by Flower in
various scientific serials. Among these, bare mention
must suffice for one, " On the Connexion of the Hyoid
Arch with the Cranium," which appeared in the twentieth
volume of the Report of the British Association. More
important is the article " On the Correspondence between
the parts composing the Shoulder and the Pelvic Girdle
of the Mammalia." In this the author pointed out that
although the homology between the scapula in the
shoulder-girdle and the ilium in the pelvis had long
been admitted by naturalists, yet much misconception
existed with regard to the exact correspondence be-
tween the respective surfaces and borders of these
bones ; and he then proceeded to define and describe
these correspondences in considerable detail. The names
then assigned by Flower to the component surfaces and
borders of the bones in question have ever since been
generally adapted by naturalists. Observations were
also recorded with regard to the homology between the
coracoid bone and the ischium. A second paper in the
same journal for 1870 dealt with the carpus of the dog ;
while in 1873 he published in this medium a note on
the same part of the skeleton in the sloths.

Reverting once more to the Proceedings of the Zoolo-
gical Society, in which the bulk of his contributions
to the anatomy of mammals was published, we find a

LIFE OF FLOWER 127

paper by Flower in the volume for 1870 on the anatomy
of the Himalayan panda (JElurus fulgens.)

The specimen on which the paper was based was the
first example of this remarkable animal which had ever
been dissected ; and the brain and viscera were described
at considerable length. The result of the dissection
was to confirm the author's previous opinion — based on
the external characters and skeleton — as to the near
affinity of JElurus to the American Procyonidte ; and it
was left somewhat an open question, whether it should
be included in that group, or regarded as the repre-
sentative of a family (JEhtrida) by itself. In after
years Mr. W. T. Blanford adopted the former view. In
the following year (1871) Flower contributed a note to
the Proceedings, recording the occurrence of a specimen
of the ringed seal (Phoca hispida) on the Norfolk coast
in 1846 ; and he also wrote a paper in the same
volume on the skeleton of one of the cassowaries.
The somewhat remarkable fact that the two-spotted
palm-civet (Nandinia binotata) differs from the other
genera of the same group by the absence of a blind
appendage, or caecum, to the intestine, was recorded by
Flower in the same serial for 1872.

Of much more importance than either of the fore-
going were two contributions to mammalian anatomy
made by Sir William during the year last mentioned.
The one, which appeared in the Medical Times and
Gazette, was the report of " Lectures on the Comparative
Anatomy of the Organs of Digestion in the Mammalia,
delivered at the Royal College of Surgeons in February
and March, 1872." In this article, which is well
illustrated, will be found descriptions of the various

128 LIFE OF FLOWER

forms assumed by the stomach in a large number of the
ordinal and family groups ; especial attention being
directed to the remarkable complexity of that organ in
the porpoise. The other, which was published in
Nature, and in abstract in the Report of the British
Association, dealt with the arrangement and nomen-
clature of the lobes of the mammalian liver. It is,
perhaps, one of the most valuable of the author's con-
tributions to visceral anatomy ; and introduced order
and precision where confusion had previously reigned.
The names then given to the different lobes of the liver
have been very generally adopted in zoological and
anatomical literature.

In 1873 Flower delivered before the Royal Institu-
tion a lecture on palaeontological evidence of gradual
modification of animal forms, which is published in the
Proceedings of that body for the same year. In this he
touched on the important evidence afforded by the dis-
coveries which had then been recently made in North
America in favour of the derivation of one animal form
from another, directing particular attention to the case for
the evolution of the horse. Another paper on the same
subject appears in the British Medicaljournal for 1874;
while, as noticed below, Sir William again lectured on
palaeontological evolution in 1876.

The year 1874 was noteworthy, so far as palaeontology
is concerned, by the appearance in the Philosophical Trans-
actions of the Royal Society of a paper by Flower on
part of a remarkable mammalian skull from Patagonia,
described under the name of Homalodontotherium cun-
ninghami. In justice to the author, it should be said
that he was not responsible for the undue length of the

LIFE OF FLOWER 129

generic name, which had been bestowed by his friend
Huxley four years previously in the Geological Society's
Journal, and which Flower was therefore compelled to
employ. It refers to the fact that the jaws of the new
animal are remarkable for the even and unbroken wall
formed by the teeth, which show no enlarged tusks.
At the time the geological age of this interesting fossil
was quite unknown ; but it formed the forerunner of the
marvellous discoveries of the remains of fossil mammals
of middle tertiary age in Patagonia, which have been
made of late years, and have done so much to increase
our knowledge of the past life and history of the South
American Continent.

Of minor interest is a paper by the then Hunterian Pro-
fessor in the Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society
on a much rolled and battered skull from the so-called
Red Crag of Suffolk, which the author referred to a
species of that extinct genus of sea-cows (Sirenia) known
as Halitherium. Such interest as the specimen possessed
was due to its affording the first evidence of the occurrence
of remains of that genus in Britain. Another paper, it
may be mentioned, was published by Flower in the same
journal for 1877, 'm which another well-known extinct
continental genus of mammals was added to the fauna
of the Red Crag of East Anglia. The paper described
two molar teeth, in the York Museum, from the deposit
in question, evidently referable to the large bear-like
animal known as Hyeenarctus, of which the first remains
had been described many years previously from the
Siwalik Hills of North- Eastern India. As the mention
of this paper has broken the chronological order of
treatment, it may be added that in 1876 Flower published
I

i36 LIFE OF FLOWER

another paper, this time in the Zoological Society's Pro-
ceedings, on a mammalian skull from the Red Crag.
The specimen referred to in this communication was
provisionally assigned to Cuvier's genus Xiphodon, and
was believed to have been originally washed out from
a formation much older than the Red Crag, and reburied
in the latter.

Next on our list comes a paper on the anatomy of the
musk-deer (Moschus moschiferus), contributed to the
serial last cited for 1875, m which the author points
out how widely this animal differs from the more
typical deer, and shows that it cannot even claim a near
relationship with the Chinese water-deer, despite the
fact that in both species the males are devoid of antlers,
and are armed with long sabre-like tusks in the upper
jaw. In several respects — notably the presence of a
gall-bladder to the liver — the musk-deer is indeed
nearer to the hollow-horned ruminants (Bovidae), than
to the other members of the deer tribe (Cervidae).

In 1876 Professor Flower delivered before the Royal
Institution an extremely interesting lecture on the ex-
tinct mammals of North America, which at that time
were in course of being made known to the scientific
world by the writings of Professors Marsh and Cope.
In the course of this lecture Flower alluded at consider-
able length to the ancestry of the horse — then a com-
paratively new subject — and also discussed the structure
and affinities of those gigantic many-horned mammals
commonly known as Dinocerata. In concluding, the
lecturer observed that the work accomplished in America
taught us — " First, that the living world around us at
the present moment bears but an exceedingly small

LIFE OF FLOWER 131

proportion to the whole series of animal and vegetable
forms which have existed in past ages. Secondly, that,
notwithstanding all that has been said, and most justly
said, of the necessary imperfection of the geological
record, we may hope that there is still so much pre-
served that the study of the course of events which
have led up to the present condition of life on the globe,
may have a great future before it."

The subsequent discoveries of fossil mammalian re-
mains in such enormous quantities in Patagonia, and still
later in the Libyan desert, have rendered this utterance
almost prophetic.

During the same year (1876) appeared, in the Philoso-
phical ^Transactions, a notice by Flower of the seals and
cetaceans obtained during the Transit of Venus expeditions
of 1874 anc* l%75- The year 1876 likewise witnessed
the publication, in the Proceedings of the Zoological
Society, of an article on the skulls of the various exist-
ing species of rhinoceroses, in which it was shown that
the number of such species had been altogether unjusti-
fiably exaggerated by the late Dr. J. E. Gray and other
writers, and that in all probability there were really not
more than five. Certain characters connected with the
postero-lateral region of the skull were also described,
which served to divide these species into groups. A
further contribution to our knowledge of the skulls of
the rhinoceroses was made by Flower in 1878, when he
described, in the same journal, the skull of an Indian
specimen, which it was thought might be the Rhinoceros
lasiotis of Dr. Sclater — now known to be (as then sug-
gested) merely a local race of the two-horned ' R.
sumatrensis.

1 32 LIFE OF FLOWER

Between the years 1880 and 1883 several papers on
mammalian zoology were published by Flower in the
Proceedings of the Zoological Society and elsewhere,
none of which can be regarded as of first-rate import-
ance. The first of these (P.Z.S. 1880) dealt with
the internal anatomy of that rare mammal, the bush- dog
(Speothus, or Icticyon, venaticus\ of Guiana, which had
never previously been described. The author regarded
this animal as a specialised member of the Canidae,
showing some signs of affinity with the wild dogs
(Cyon) of Asia. In 1880 the museum of the Royal
College of Surgeons received a very large skull of the
elephant-seal or sea-elephant (Macrorhinus leoninus);
and this induced Flower to draw up some notes on that
enormous creature, which appeared in the above-named
journal for 1 88 1. The author described it as "an
animal which, notwithstanding its former abundance
and wide distribution, and its great zoological interest,
is still very imperfectly known anatomically, and very
poorly represented in collections." Fortunately, since
that date — mainly owing to the energy and liberality of
Mr. Rothschild — specimens of the skin and skeleton
of this huge seal have been secured for our museums
before it was too late. In the same volume Flower
drew attention to the evidence showing that the sea-
cow, or manati, of which a pair were living at the time
in the Brighton Aquarium, occasionally, or periodically,
comes ashore for the purpose of grazing. In the same
year appeared an article from his pen in the British
Medical Journal on the anatomy of the Cetacea and
Edentata; while in 1882 the question of the mutual
relationships of the mammals commonly included in

LIFE OF FLOWER 133

the latter order (such as sloths, ant-eaters, armadillos,
pangolins, and aard-varks) were discussed by him in
the Proceedings of the Zoological Society.

The trend of the paper last mentioned, as well as
that of some of his other communications published
shortly before, indicates that about this time, instead of
restricting his attention more or less entirely to their
anatomy, Flower was much occupied with the subject
of the classification of the Mammalia. And the reason
is not far to seek, for he had undertaken not only the
volume of the "Catalogue of Osteological Specimens in
the Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons," dealing
with mammals other than man, but he had likewise
engaged (in co-operation with the late Dr. Dobson) to
write the article "Mammalia" for the ninth edition of
the Encyclopaedia Britannica. With the view apparently
of clearing the way for these two important contributions
to zoology, he published during the early part of 1883
in the Zoological Society's Proceedings a paper on the
" Arrangement of the Orders and Families of Mammalia."

To discuss this important paper in detail on the
present occasion is quite unnecessary ; and it will suffice
to state that it has formed the basis on which all
modern classifications of the group are framed. Indeed
it has been accepted by most writers with little or no
modification. In this scheme it was proposed to divide
mammals into three primary groups, or sub-classes,
namely, Prototheria, or Ornithodelphia, as represented
only by the egg-laying group ; Metatheria or Didelphia,
including the pouched group, or marsupials ; and
Eutheria or Monodelphia, comprising the whole of the
remaining or placental groups. Of late years, owing

134 LIFE OF FLOWER

to the discovery of unexpected relationships between
placeiitals and marsupials, it has been proposed to
recognise only two sub-classes of mammals : the
Eutheria, comprising the two groups last mentioned,
and the Prototheria, or monotremes. The scheme chiefly
differed from the one proposed some years earlier by
Huxley in the inclusion of the Hyracoidea (klipdass)
and Proboscidea (elephants) as sub-orders of the
Ungulata, instead of their forming separate orders by
themselves. In this instance Flower ranked the
Artiodactyla, Perissodactyla, Hyracoidea, and Pro-
boscidea as equivalent sub-orders of Ungulata, but later
on he brigaded the two former together as Ungulata
Vera, and the two latter as Subungulata.

The above scheme was employed by Flower in the
article " Mammalia," written by him for the ninth edition
of the Encyclopedia Britannica, the volume containing
which appeared in 1883. This article, with others by
himself and other authors, formed, as will be noticed
later on, the basis of the Study of Mammals pub-
lished in 1891. Among other articles contributed by
Flower to the Encyclopedia were those on the Horse,
Kangaroo, Lemur, Lion, Mastodon, Megatherium, Otter,
Platypus, Rhinoceros, Seal, Swine, Tapir, Whale, and
Zebra.

The aforesaid scheme of classification was likewise
used in the second part of the " Catalogue of Osteo-
logical Specimens in the Museum of the Royal College
of Surgeons," which was written with the assistance of
Dr. Garson, and appeared in 1884. Since this valuable
work has been already noticed at some length in the
chapter devoted to Flower's official connection with the

LIFE OF FLOWER 135

College of Surgeons, it need not be further referred to
in this place, except that the writer may again take the
opportunity of expressing his regret that the views on
nomenclature there enunciated have not met with accept-
ance among the modern school of naturalists.

At the " Jubilee " meeting of the Zoological Society,
held in June 1887, Flower, as President, read an address
on the " Progress of Zoological Science" during the
reign of Queen Victoria, which appeared in the Report
of the Council of that year, and to which reference has
been made in an earlier chapter.

About this time the Natural History Museum received
a series of antlers shed year by year by one particular
red-deer stag, together with the complete skull and
antlers of the same animal ; and this gift induced Flower
to deliver in December 1887 a lecture on "Horns and
Antlers " before the Middlesex Natural History Society,
which is printed, with a plate of the aforesaid series of
red-deer antlers, in a somewhat abbreviated form, in the
Transactions of that Society.

If we except a few on Cetacea, noticed in the next
chapter, Sir William's contributions to the Zoological
Society's Proceedings after 1883 were not numerous or
of much importance. In 1884 he contributed, however,
remarks on the so-called white elephant from Burma,
then exhibited in the Society's Menagerie ; and in the
same year he also wrote on the young dentition of the
capibara. In 1887 he discussed the generic position
and relationships of the pigmy hippopotamus of Liberia.
The acquisition in the following year by the Natural
History Museum of specimens of that breed of Japanese
fowls remarkable for the excessive elongation of the

136 LIFE OF FLOWER

tail-feathers of the cocks, led to a note on that subject
in the Proceedings for the same year. This paper, it
may be incidentally mentioned, is noteworthy, on account
of the evidence it affords that Sir William did not
regard the variations displayed by domesticated animals
as in any way unworthy the notice of the naturalist ;
while the next shows that monstrosities or abnormalities
— at all events to a certain extent — are also worthy of
recognition. The note incidentally alluded to in the last
sentence appeared in 1889, and dealt with an African
rhinoceros head, showing three horns. Finally, in
1890, Sir William exhibited and commented upon a
photograph of the nesting-hole of a hornbill, showing
the female " walled up " with mud.

The next year (1891) saw the publication of An
Introduction to the Study of Mammals, Living and Extinct,
written, as already said, in collaboration with the
present writer, and embodying the whole of Flower's
contributions to the Encyclopedia Britannica, together
with certain articles by other authors from the same
work, and such new material as was necessary in order
to weave these disjecta membra into one connected and
harmonious whole.

In the same year was also published, in the Modern
Science Series, Sir William's admirable little volume on
The Horse, which was likewise largely based on his
Encyclopedia articles. In this work Flower dwelt par-
ticularly on the vestiges exhibited by the modern horse
of its descent from more generalised ancestors ; and he
was successful in demonstrating that the structure
known to veterinarians as the " ergot," represents one
of the foot-pads of the earlier forms.

LIFE OF FLOWER 137

Undoubtedly the most important elements in the
foregoing tale of work are those relating to the
mammalian (and especially the marsupial) brain, and
the marsupial dentition. And if Flower had accom-
plished nothing more than this, he would have been
entitled to gratitude of his successors. But, as we
shall immediately see, all the above formed but a portion
of his zoological labours.

CHAPTER VI

WORK ON THE CETACEA

NEXT at any rate to the study of the various races of
the human species (which he took up seriously later on
in his career), the group of mammals to which Flower
devoted special attention, and which attracted his
greatest interest, was undoubtedly that of the Cetacea,
or whales, dolphins, porpoises, etc. At the time when
he set himself seriously to study these aquatic and
fish-like mammals, the zoology of the group was
certainly in a most confused and unsatisfactory state ;
partly, no doubt, owing to the comparative rarity of
complete specimens in our museums, and the consequent
difficulty of instituting accurate comparisons, and partly
to the reckless prodigality with which names had been
given to imperfect or insufficiently characterised speci-
mens by some of his predecessors and early con-
temporaries, and the needless multiplication of generic
terms. It was consequently at this time almost im-
possible to be sure which was the right name for
even many of the commoner species ; while in the case
of the rarer kinds, the confusion was almost hopeless.
When Flower left the subject — which he only did
when his working days were over — it was in great
measure thoroughly in order, although of course much
was left for future workers to fill in. Unhappily, his
views on the nomenclature of the group have not been

139

140 LIFE OF FLOWER

accepted by all his followers ; so that a fresh and totally
unnecessary source of confusion has been introduced of
late years into a subject which had already sufficient
difficulties of its own.

In regard to the discrimination of species, Flower
took a view almost the reverse of that held by some of
his predecessors and colleagues ; and, as he says himself,
he may have consequently erred in a direction the very
opposite of theirs. " As species have not generally
been recognised as such," he wrote in the British
Museum List of 1885, "unless presenting constant
distinguishing characters capable of definition, it is
probable that, in the imperfect state of knowledge of
many forms, some may have been grouped together
which a fuller acquaintance with all parts of their
structure, external and internal, will show to be
distinct."

Apart from his explaining to popular audiences that
whales were mammals and not fishes, Flower emphasised
three points very strongly in regard to the organisation
and physiology of these animals. First of all, he
pointed out that, as a rule, they do not " spout " water
from their " blowholes." " The ' spouting,' or more
properly the ' blowing ' of the whale," he wrote, " is
nothing more than the ordinary act of expiration,
which, taking place at larger intervals than in land
animals, is performed with a greater amount of emphasis.
The moment the animal rises to the surface it forcibly
expels from its lungs the air taken in at the last inspira-
tion, which is of course highly charged with watery
vapour in consequence of the natural respiratory
changes. This, rapidly condensing in the cold atmo-

LIFE OF FLOWER 141

sphere in which the phenomena is generally observed,
forms a column of steam or spray, which has been
erroneously taken for water."

Secondly, he drew attention to the importance of the
rudiments of hind-limbs which occur in many whales as
affording decisive evidence of the descent of the group
from land mammals. And thirdly, he emphasised the
marked distinction between baleen, or whalebone,
whales (Mystacoceti), and toothed whales and dolphins
(Odontoceti) ; although he appears never to have gone so
far in this direction as some modern naturalists, who
are of opinion that these two groups have originated
independently of one another from separate types of
land mammals.

Another point to which Flower devoted a considerable
share of attention was the dimensions attained by the
larger species of whales. Previously, there is no doubt
that very great exaggeration had been current in this
respect, and that such things as I5o-feet whales are
unknown. With his excessive caution, and determina-
tion to be on the safe side, it is however probable that in
some instances — notably the Greenland right-whale and
the sperm-whale — Flower somewhat under-estimated
the maximum dimensions.

At what date Flower first began to study whales
seriously, it is not easy to ascertain. From the fact of
his contributing three papers on this subject to the
Zoological Society's Proceedings for 1864, it may, how-
ever, be inferred that by that time he had devoted no
inconsiderable amount of attention to the group. In
the first of those he described a specimen of a lesser fin-
whale, then recently stranded on the Norfolk coast ;

1 42 LIFE OF FLOWER

while in a second, and much more important communica-
tion, he gave notes on the skeletons of whales preserved
in the museums of Holland and Belgium which he had
recently visited. Two of these he described as
indicating apparently new species ; although their right
to distinction was not maintained. In the same year
he described two skulls of grampuses from Tasmania,
which were regarded as representing a new species,
under the name of Orca meridional^ ; a further note on
these being added in the Society's Proceedings for 1865,
when the species was transferred to the genus Pseudorca.
Later still it was found that the supposed species was
inseparable from the typical P. crassidens; named by
Owen many years previously on the evidence of a
skeleton from the Lincolnshire Fens. In another note
published the same year in the same journal he showed
that one of the whales named by him in 1864 was
identical with the one now known as Balteonoptera sibbaldi ;
while a second paper described a specimen of the fin-
whale commonly known as B. musculus. A further
note on the synonymy of B. sibbaldi appeared in the
Proceedings for 1 868.

Reverting to earlier publications, in 1 866 the Royal
Society of London issued a volume containing transla-
tions by Flower of certain very important memoirs on
Cetacea by Professors Eschricht, Reinhardt, and Lillje-
borg. As these were written in a language understood
by comparatively few Englishmen, the translation was
a distinct benefit to "cetology" in this country.

Between the years 1869 and 1878 inclusive, six very
important memoirs on whales (including in that term
porpoises, dolphins, etc.) from Flower's pen appeared

LIFE OF FLOWER 143

in the Transactions of the Zoological Society of London.
The first of these, which was published in the year first
mentioned, was devoted to the description of the
skeleton of the very interesting and then little-known
South American freshwater or estuarine dolphins, Inia
and Pontcporia. In the course of this memoir it was
demonstrated that, in spite of the wide distance between
their habitats, these dolphins and the freshwater dolphin
of the Ganges and certain other Indian rivers, Platanista
gangetica, collectively form a distinct family group —
the Platanistidae, which exhibits many very generalised
features.

In the second memoir of this series, which appeared
in 1869, Flower treated in an exhaustive manner of the
osteology of the sperm-whale, or cachalot. " The fine
skeleton of a young male which he procured for the
Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons," writes
Professor M'Intosh in his obituary notice of Sir William,
" formed the basis of this important paper, and enabled
him to add to and correct much which had been written
on this subject. The description of its huge cranium
as a large, pointed slipper, with a high heel-piece and
the front trodden down, the hollow limited behind by
the occipital crest, continued laterally into the elevated
ridges of the broadly expanded maxillae, which rose
from the median line to the edge of the skull, instead of
falling away, as in most Cetaceans, must be familiar to
all students of the group. In this vast cavity lies the
' head-matter,' composed of almost pure spermaceti."

It was further demonstrated that the available evidence
pointed to the existence of only a single species of true
cachalot ; the small adult jaws not unfrequently seen in

i44 LIFE OF FLOWER

collections being apparently those of females, which are
known to be far inferior in size to the old bulls.

It may be added, in connection with sperm-whales,
that the abrupt termination of the muzzle, shown (in a
somewhat modified degree) in the model of the old bull,
set up under Sir William's direction in the Whale Room
at the Natural History Museum, has been said by certain
modern naturalists to be incorrect. Inquiries instituted
at the present writer's suggestion at the New Bedford
Cachalot-whaling Station have, however, proved that the
abruptness is under-estimated rather than exaggerated
in the restoration.

This brief reference to the Whale Room at the
museum, and Flower's work in superintending the
construction of models of several of the larger members
of the group, must, it may be further added, suffice in
this place, seeing that fuller mention of the subiect has
been already made in an earlier chapter.

The third memoir of the series in the Zoological
Society's Transactions treats of the Chinese white dolphin
(DelphinuSy or Prodelphinus, sinensis), and was published
in 1872. In the following year appeared one on Risso's
dolphin, Grampus griseus, in which the author directed
attention to certain variable markings always seen on
the skin of this species. These, it has been subse-
quently shown, are produced by the claws in the
suckers of the cuttlefish which forms the food of this
species.

The two remaining memoirs in the Transactions,
which appeared respectively in 1873 anc* 1878, were
devoted to that difficult, and at the time imperfectly
known group, termed ziphioid, or beaked whales. In

LIFE OF FLOWER 145

the first of the two attention was concentrated on the
aberrant and rare form known as Berardius arnuxi ;
while the second was exclusively devoted to the much
more abundant types included under the generic title
Mesoplodon, in allusion to the single pair of lower teeth
near the middle of the sides of the lower jaw, which
forms the single dental armature of the cetaceans of this
genus. The beaked whales, it should be added, had
been previously discussed by Flower in a preliminary
paper published in the Zoological Society's Proceedings
for 1871 and 1876, and likewise in an article communi-
cated in 1872 to Nature.

Special interest attaches to a paper by Flower pub-
lished in the Transactions of the Royal Geological
Society of Cornwall for 1872, and also in the Annals
and Magazine of Natural History for the same year, on
the bones of a whale dug up at Petuan, in Cornwall,
sometime previously to 1829, and now preserved in the
museum of the above-named Society. The whale re-
presented by these remains was made the type of the
new genus and species Eschrichtius robustus, by the late
Dr. J. E. Gray. That it was a member of the group
of whalebone- whales, and that it could not be identified
with either of the genera then known, namely Balana,
Bal&noptera, and Megaptera, was fully demonstrated by
Flower, who also showed that it agreed with the two
latter in having the neck- vertebrae free.

"The interesting question," he added, "remains,
whether this species still exists in our seas ; if extinct,
it must have become so at a comparatively recent period,
certainly long after Cornwall was inhabited by man.
The negative evidence of no specimen having been met
K

146 LIFE OF FLOWER

with by naturalists in a living or recent state, is hardly
conclusive as to its non-existence, as our knowledge of
this group of animals is lamentably deficient. We are
acquainted with many species, even of very large size,
only through isolated individuals, and the discovery of
others new to science is by no means an infrequent or
unlooked-for occurrence at the present time."

In the opinion of the present writer, it is quite prob-
able that this whale may be identical with the grey
whale of the Pacific, described many years subsequently
by the late Professor Cope as Ityachianectes glaucus, in
which event that name will have to give place to
Eschrichtius robustus.

In the year 1879^ and for some time after, Flower
directed his attention more especially to the dolphins
and porpoises, which collectively constitute the family
Delphinidae of naturalists, and he published a series of
papers on this group in the Proceedings of the Zoological
Society. In the volume for 1879 tnere appeared, for
instance, one paper on the common dolphin (Delphinus
delphis) ; a second on the bottle-nosed dolphin, now
known as Tursiops tursio ; and a third on the skull of the
white whale, or beluga (Delphinapterus leucas). Of far
greater importance was, however, the appearance in
1883 of a paper in the same serial on the generic
characters of the family Delphinidae as a whole. Special
attention was directed in this communication to the value
of the pterygoid bones, on the under surface of the skull,
in the classification of the family ; and characters were
formulated which enabled the various genera to be
identified, wholly or in part, by this part of the skull.
Flower's classification of the Delphinidae has, with some

LIFE OF FLOWER 147

slight modifications, been very generally accepted by
later naturalists. Some time after the publication of
this paper the present writer pointed out to the author
that two of the generic names employed by him were
barred by previous use in a different sense ; and in a
note subsequently published in the Proceedings, these
were accordingly replaced.

Flower was, however, by no means forgetful of his
earlier love for the cachalot and beaked whales (Physe-
teridae); and in 1883 and again in 1884 he published
papers in the Proceedings on their near relatives the
bottle-nosed whales (not to be confounded with the
bottle-nosed dolphins) of the genus Hyperoodon. In
these investigations he was much indebted, as on several
previous occasions, to the observations of Captain Gray,
a well-known whaler. As regards the common bottle-
nose (H. restrains). Sir William succeeded in demon-
strating that the great differences which had long been
noticed in the skull were due to distinctions either of
sex or age ; the old males developing huge maxillary
crests — with a broad and flattened front surface — of
which there is scarcely any trace in the younger mem-
bers of the same sex, or in females of all ages. In
consequence of this difference in the skull, the head
of the old bull bottle-nose is easily recognisable by the
abrupt and prominent elevation of the forehead immedi-
ately behind the base of the beak. Flower was also
able to show that bottle-noses yield true spermaceti,
especially in the head ; a fact which does not appear to
have been previously known to zoologists, although it
may have been to whalers. At the present day there
is a considerable trade in bottle-nose sperm-oil and

148 LIFE OF FLOWER

spermaceti ; these being often blended with the products
of the cachalot, from which they are distinguishable by
their specific gravity. In his 1882 paper Flower
described a water- worn bottle-nose skull from Australia,
which he regarded as indicating a second species of the
genus — Hyper oodon planifrons. The correctness of this
determination has been demonstrated by complete
skeletons of the same whale from the South American
seas.

The last two papers on Cetacea by Sir William in the
Proceedings of the Zoological Society refer to the occur-
rence of examples of Rudolphi's rorqual (Bal&noptera
borealis) on the English coasts. In the one paper he
described a specimen stranded on the Essex shore in
1883, and in the other an example captured in the
Thames four years later.

As regards other contributions to our knowledge of
the Cetacea, Sir William in 1883 delivered before the
Royal Institution a lecture on " Whales, Past and
Present," which is reproduced in the Proceedings of
that body for the same year. A second lecture, " On
Whales and Whaling," was delivered before the Royal
Colonial Institute for 1885, and is published in the
Journal of the Institute for that year. The article
"Whale," for the ninth edition of the Encyclopedia
Britannica, is also the work of Flower ; it is reproduced,
almost as it stands, in the Study of Mammals.

The year 1885 saw the publication of the "List of
the Specimens of Cetacea in the Zoological Department
of the British Museum," a small, but nevertheless
valuable work, from which an extract has already been
made. Even when this was written, the museum con-

LIFE OF FLOWER 149

tained skulls or skeletons of nearly all the more
important and well-established representatives of the
order, the only notable deficiency being the large
whalebone whale from the North Pacific commonly
known as the grey whale, and scientifically termed
Rhachianectes g/aucus. It was not many years before
this gap was filled by the acquisition of a complete
skeleton of the species in question.

In concluding this brief notice of the work accom-
plished by Flower on the Cetacea, an extract may be
made to illustrate his views with regard to the ancestry
and origin of the group : —

" The origin of the Cetacea," he wrote, " is at present
involved in much obscurity. They present no signs of
closer affinity to any of the lower classes of vertebrates
than do many other members of their own class.
Indeed in all that essentially distinguishes a mammal
from the oviparous vertebrates, whether in the osseous,
nervous, reproductive, or any other system, they are as
truly mammalian as any other group. Any supposed
marks of inferiority, as absence of limb-structure, of
hairy covering, of lachrymal apparatus, etc., are
obviously modifications (or degradations, as they may
be termed) in adaptation to their special mode of life.
The characters of the teeth of 'Leuglodon and other
extinct forms, and also of the foetal Mystacocetes,
clearly indicate that they have been derived from
mammals in which the heterodont type of dentition was
fully established. The steps by which a land mammal
may have been modified into a purely aquatic one are
indicated by the stages which still survive among the
Carnivora in the Otariidae and in the true seals. A

150 LIFE OF FLOWER

further change in the same direction would produce an
animal somewhat resembling a dolphin ; and it has been
thought that this may have been the route by which the
Cetacean form has been developed. There are, how-
ever, great difficulties in the way of this view. Thus
if the hind-limbs had ever been developed into the very
efficient aquatic propelling organs they present in the
seals, it is not easy to imagine how they could have
become completely atrophied and their function trans-
ferred to the tail. So that, from this point of view, it is
more likely that whales were derived from animals with
long tails, which were used in swimming, eventually
with such effect that the hind-limbs became no longer
necessary. The powerful tail, with its lateral cutaneous
flanges, of an American species of otter (Lutra brasiliensis)
may give an idea of this member in the primitive Ceta-
ceans. But the structure of the Cetacea is, in so many
essential characters, so unlike that of the Carnivora,
that the probabilities are against these orders being
nearly related. Even in the skull of the Zeuglodon,
which has been cited as presenting a great resemblance
to that of a 'seal, quite as many likenesses may be traced
to one of the primitive Pig-like Ungulates (except in
the purely adaptive character of the form of the teeth)
while the elongated larynx, complex stomach, simple
liver, reproductive organs, both male and female, and
foetal membranes of the existing Cetacea, are far more
like those of that group than of the Carnivora. Indeed,
it appears probable that the old popular idea which
affixed the name of * Sea-Hog ' to the porpoise, contains
a larger element of truth than the speculations of many
accomplished zoologists of modern times. The fact

LIFE OF FLOWER 151

that Platanista^ which, as mentioned above, appears to
retain more of the primitive characteristics of the group
than any other existing form, and also the distantly
related Inia from South America, are both at the
present day exclusively fluviatile, may point to the fresh-
water origin of the whole group, in which case their
otherwise rather inexplicable absence from the seas of
the Cretaceous period would be accounted for.

" On the other hand, it should be observed that the
teeth of the Zeuglodonts approximate more to a carni-
vorous than to an ungulate type."

This difficulty with regard to the teeth is indeed one
which it is impossible to disregard, since it is scarcely
credible that grinding teeth such as characterise herbi-
vorous mammals of all descriptions could ever have
been modified into the teeth of whales, either living or
extinct. There is, moreover, the unmistakable resem-
blance presented by the cheek-teeth of the aforesaid
extinct zeuglodons to those of Carnivora. Both these
facts seem to point to the derivation of toothed whales,
at any rate, from flesh-eating rather than herbivorous
mammals ; although they have certainly no relationship
with the eared seals.

Since the foregoing passage was written it has been
practically demonstrated that the toothed whales, at
any rate, are the descendants of primitive Carnivora.
Professor E. Fraas, of Stuttgart, and Dr. C. W.
Andrews, of the British Museum, have, for instance,
shown that the zeuglodons are derived from the Eocene
group of Carnivora known as Creodontia ; while there is
every reason for regarding the zeuglodons themselves
as the ancestors of modern toothed whales.

CHAPTER VII

ANTHROPOLOGICAL WORK

THE study of the physical characters of the various
native races of the human species — that is to say,
anthropology, in contradistinction to ethnology —
occupied a very prominent position in Sir William
Flower's scientific career ; and it is difficult to say
whether this or the study of whales was the branch
of biology on which his greatest interest was concen-
trated. Perhaps we might say that the two together
formed his especially favourite subjects. Whereas, how-
ever, as we have seen in the last chapter, he was study-
ing the Cetacea at least as early as the year 1864, when
papers from his pen were published, anthropology does
not appear to have been seriously taken up by him till
considerably later in life ; the first papers and lectures
by him that have come under the writer's notice dating
from 1878.

As regards the special departments of this science to
which Sir William devoted a large share of attention,
we may mention, in the first place, the discovery of the
best methods of accurately determining the capacity of
the human cranium, and the drawing-up of formulae
for " indexes " to serve as a basis for comparing the
cranial measurements of different races. Secondly, we
may take the classification of these races as one of his
most important lines of investigation. While, in the

153

154 LIFE OF FLOWER

third place, may be noticed his partiality for the study
of the inferior races of mankind, more especially those
belonging to the black, or Negro, branch of the species ;
dwarf races, like the Central African Akkas, and the
Andaman Islanders, or exterminated types, like the
Tasmanians, having apparently a very strong claim on
his interest. And here it may be mentioned that not
only is anthropology largely indebted to Flower for his
published works on this subject, but likewise for the
energy he displayed in collecting specimens of the
osteology of dwindling races, while there was yet time.
It was at his initiation that Sir Joseph Fayrer was
induced to use his influence with the Indian authorities
for the purpose of securing skulls and skeletons of
Andamanese for the Museum of the Royal College of
Surgeons. The result of this was the acquisition of
a fine series of specimens of the osteology of this fast-
disappearing race, at a time when it was still compara-
tively uncontaminated and undeteriorated by contact
with Europeans. That such contact must inevitably
lead, sooner or later, to the disappearance of the
inferior, or u non-adaptive " races of mankind, was a
favourite dictum of Sir William's ; and its truth has
been confirmed by the events of the last few years.

If not actually the earliest, the first really important
contribution to anthropology on Flower's part was a
Friday Evening lecture " On the Native Races of the
Pacific Ocean," delivered at the Royal Institution on
3ist May 1878, and published in the Proceedings of that
body for the same year. In this lecture Sir William
described the native races of Oceania, or those inhabit-
ing the islands, inclusive of Australia, scattered through

LIFE OF FLOWER 155

the great ocean tract bounded on the east and west
respectively by the continents of America and Asia.
The subject was treated very largely upon the basis of
the collection of skulls and skeletons in the Museum of
the Royal College of Surgeons ; yet the lecturer was
careful to point out that even this extensive series was
wholly insufficient for the purpose of forming a classifi-
cation of mankind founded on physical structure.

"It can only afford certain indications, valuable as
far as they go, from which a provisional, or approxima-
tive system may be built up. Very many, indeed the
majority of the islands, are totally unrepresented in it ;
others are illustrated by only one or two individuals."
" Were the collection anything like representative," it is
added later, " it would probably be found possible to
distinguish the natives of each island, or, at all events,
of each group of islands, by cranial characters alone."

Special attention was in this course directed to the
Australians on the one hand, and to the frizzly-haired
Melanesians, or Oceanic Negroes (as distinct from the
straight-haired Polynesians) on the other. That the
Melanesians were the primitive denizens of the greater
part of Oceania, and that the original area they once
inhabited has been much circumscribed by Polynesian
invasion, the lecturer was fully convinced ; and the
great difficulty of distinguishing in some instances to
what extent this invasion has led, in certain cases, to
a mixture of the two stocks, was earnestly insisted
upon. At the conclusion of his discourse Flower
commented very strongly on the tfrgent need of making
anthropological collections in these islands forthwith ;
and, although perhaps his prophecy of impending ex-

156 LIFE OF FLOWER

termination was a little exaggerated, it is no less urgent
at the present day.

" In another half century," he said, " the Australians,
the Melanesians, the Maories, and most of the Poly-
nesians will have followed the Tasmanians to the grave.
We shall well merit the reproach of future generations
if we neglect our present opportunities of gathering
together every fragment of knowledge that can still be
saved, of their languages, customs, social polity, manu-
factures, and arts. The preservation of tangible
evidence of their physical structure is, if possible, still
more important ; and surely this may be expected of
that nation, above all others, which by its commercial
enterprise and wide-spread maritime dominion has done,
and is doing, far more than any in effecting that dis-
tinctive revolution."

What are we doing at the present day, it may be
asked, to avoid this reproach ? If we may judge by the
slowness with which anthropological specimens came
into the national collections (and it is difficult to select
a better test), the answer must surely be, I am afraid,
in the negative.

Of a still more popular type than the preceding was
a lecture on the " Races of Men," delivered by Flower
in the City Hall, Glasgow, on 28th November 1878,
and published as a separate pamphlet.

The third, and perhaps the most interesting lecture
given by Flower during the year under consideration,
was the one at Manchester on November 3Oth, on the
" Aborigines of Tasmania," which is published in the
tenth series of Manchester Science Lectures. In this
discourse Flower traced the sad story of European

LIFE OF FLOWER 157

intercourse with this interesting people and their final
extermination ; pointing out that the last male died in
1869, and the last female in 1876. At the time this
lecture was delivered four complete skeletons of Tas-
manians of both sexes had been obtained and sent to
England by the late Mr. Merton Allport, of Hobart.
Of these, two were then in the museum of the Royal
College of Surgeons, while the third was in the collec-
tion of the late Dr. Barnard Davis, and the fourth in
that of the Anthropological Institute of London. Dr.
Davis's specimen came to the Museum of the College
of Surgeons after the owner's death ; and it was
a great source of satisfaction to Sir William that, in
after years, he obtained the Anthropological Institute's
specimen (which is remarkable for retaining the inter-
frontal suture of the skull) for the Natural History
Museum. Somewhat less than thirty Tasmanian skulls
were at this time known to exist in England, and a
few have been since acquired for public collections.
Flower dwelt upon the close affinity of the Tasmanians
to the Melanesians (although the skulls of the two are
perfectly distinguishable), and their wide difference
from their Australian neighbours.

Perhaps, however, the most important contribution
made by Flower to anthropology in 1878 was his paper
on the "Methods and Results of Measurements of the
Capacity of Human Crania," which appeared in the
Report of the British Association for that year and also
in Nature.

This was paving the way for the first part of the
valuable " Catalogue of Osteological Specimens in the
Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons of England,"

158 LIFE OF FLOWER

which appeared in the following year, and is entirely
devoted to man. This accurate and laborious work
was very far from being a mere catalogue of the
contents of this section of the museum under the
author's charge, for it is in fact to a great extent a
manual of the methods employed in human craniology ;
tables and figures being given of the manner in which
the measurement of skulls are made, and the method of
calculating " cranial indexes." For taking the cubical
capacity of skulls Flower employed mustard seed, and
the "craniometer " invented by Mr. Busk. In the
introduction is given a general sketch of the osteology
of man, followed by a dissertation on his dentition, and
this, in turn, by an account of the special osteological
and dental features of the various native races of the
human species.

Earlier in the same year Flower had entered in some
degree on the domain of ethnology by contributing to
the Journal of the Anthropological Institute a paper
illustrating the " Mode of Preserving the Dead in
Darnley Island and in South Australia," figuring the
mummified body of a Melanesian from the above-
named island. Another paper of somewhat similar
nature from Flower's pen was published in the same
journal for 1881, dealing with a collection of monu-
mental heads and artificially deformed crania of
Melanesians from the Island of Mallicollo, in the New
Hebrides. These preserved heads have attracted the
attention of Europeans ever since Cook's visit to the
island in 1774 ; and appear to be quite unique.

" Whatever the special motive among the Malli-
collese," wrote Flower, " whether they are the objects

LIFE OF FLOWER 159

of worship or merely of affectionate regard, it must be
very difficult for a passing traveller without intimate
knowledge of the language and of the condition of
mind and thought of the people to ascertain ; but the
custom is obviously analogous to many others which
have prevailed throughout all historical times and in
many nations, manifesting itself among other forms in
the mummified bodies of the ancient Egyptians, and
which has received its most aesthetic expression in the
marble busts placed over the mouldering bones in a
Christian cathedral."

Reverting to 1879, we find in the "Journal of the
Anthropological Institute for that year an important
and interesting paper by Flower on the " Osteology
and Affinities of the Natives of the Andaman Islands,"
a subject to which the author made a further contribu-
tion in the same journal for November 1884. In the
first of these communications the author gave the
results of the examination of nineteen skeletons and a
large series of skulls, while in the second he was able
to amplify these, and thus to render his averages
more trustworthy by the details of no less than ten
additional skeletons. As in all his other papers of
this nature, Sir William first traced in considerable
detail the history of European intercourse^ with the
Andamanese, or " Mincopies," as they were often
called at one time, and then proceeded to point out the
external and osteological features of these interesting
and diminutive people. Relying to a great extent on
the "frizzly," or "woolly" character of their hair,
Flower was fully convinced that these people belong
to the Negro branch of the human family.

160 LIFE OF FLOWER

"With the Oceanic Negroes, or Melanesians, as
they are now commonly called, we might naturally
suppose they had the most in common. But this is
not the case. Although the Melanesians vary much
in stature, none are so small as the Andamanese, and
some are fully equal to the average of the species.
Their crania, whenever they are met with in a pure
state, are remarkably long, narrow, and high. . . . The
pure Fijians are perhaps the most dolichocephalic
[long-headed] race in the world, and the New Cale-
donians and the New Hebrideans come near them. In
this respect they are therefore as distinct as possible from
the Andamanese. ... As is well known, the African
frizzly-haired races are mostly of moderate or tall
stature, but there are among them some, as the Bush-
men of the South, and others less known from the
Central regions, as diminutive as the Andamanese."

The lecturer then went on to state that although
African Negroes were, as a rule, of the long-headed
type, yet there were even then indications of the
existence of round-headed races in the heart of the
continent. In conclusion, it was added that although
their very rounded skulls probably formed a special
feature of the Andamanese, yet that he regarded the
" Negritos," or group of which that race formed a
section, "as representing an infantile, undeveloped or
primitive form of the type from which the African
Negroes on the one hand, and the Melanesians on the
other, with all their various modifications, may have
sprung. Even their very geographical position, in the
centre of the great area of distribution of the frizzly-
haired races, seems to favour this view. We may,

LIFE OF FLOWER 161

therefore, regard them as little-modified descendants of
an extremely ancient race, the ancestors of all the
Negro tribes."

On the other hand, it was suggested that long
isolation and restriction to a confined area might have
led to physical degeneration, so that the peculiarities
of the Andamanese type might be of comparatively
recent origin.

Another interesting race to which Sir William
devoted special attention was the Fijians, who, as
already incidentally mentioned, offer the most extreme
contrast to the round-headed Andamanese, by the
extreme length and narrowness of their skulls. His
paper on the " Cranial Characters of the Natives of the
Fiji Islands," appeared in the Journal of the Anthropo-
logical Institute for 1880 ; and was illustrated, like the
one on the Andamanese, with carefully drawn figures
of typical skulls. After mentioning that nothing
definite was known with regard to the anthropology
of one of the islands of the Fiji, or Viti, group, the
author added that " with regard to Viti Levu, all the
evidence we possess shows that the people who inhabit
the interior of the island present in their cranial con-
formation a remarkable purity of type, and that this
type conforms in the main with that of the Melanesian
islands generally j indeed they may be regarded as the
most characteristic, almost exaggerated, expressions of
this type, for in * hypersistenocephaly ' (extreme narrow-
ness of skull), they exceed the natives of Fati, in the
New Hebrides, to which the term was first applied.

" The intermixture of Tongans or other Polynesian
blood with the Fijian, appears to be confined to the

1 62 LIFE OF FLOWER

smaller islands, and even in these not to have very
greatly modified the prevailing cranial characteristics."

At the meeting of the British Association for the
Advancement of Science, held at York in the autumn
of 1881, Professor Flower, as Chairman of the Depart-
ment, read an address to the Anthropological Depart-
ment on the study and progress of anthropology, more
especially in this country ; at the conclusion of which
he urged the strong claim of the Anthropological
Institute of Great Britain and Ireland to the support
of all interested in that subject. Three years later
(1884) he gave, as President, an address u On the Aims
and Prospects of the Study of Anthropology," before
the last-named body, at the Anniversary Meeting in
January. Here again the speaker directed attention to
the comparatively small degree of interest taken in this
country in this most important science, and urged that
not only scientific students, but wealthy men, ought
to do something towards aiding its progress. " Our
insular position, maritime supremacy, numerous depen-
dencies, and ramifying commerce, have given us," he
remarked, " unusually favourable opportunities for the
formation of such collections — opportunities which,
unfortunately, in past times have not been used so
fully as might be desired." A change, indeed, it was
added, had of late years come over matters in this respect ;
but, while fully admitting this, it can scarcely be main-
tained that even at the present day we are doing all
that we might in this direction.

Between the years 1879 and 1885 inclusive, Flower
appears to have devoted much of his attention to
elaborating a satisfactory biological classification of

LIFE OF FLOWER 163

the various races of mankind. In the former he drew
up a preliminary scheme of this nature, which was
published in the British Medical Journal for 1879 and
1880, under the title of " Anatomical Characters of the
Races of Man." Impressed with the importance of
having some well-marked feature, other than those
afforded by the skull, by means of which the skeletons
of such races could easily be distinguished, he turned
his attention to the scapula, or shoulder-blade, and in
1880, with the assistance of Dr. J. G. Garson, pub-
lished in the Journal of Anatomy and Physiology a paper
" On the Scapular Index as a Race-Character in Man."
On the whole, although the number of skeletons ex-
amined was confessedly insufficient, the results obtained
were decidedly satisfactory, and agreed fairly well with
those of other observers. The Australians and Anda-
manesej for instance, accorded in this respect with the
Negro type. On the other hand, Bushman skeletons, as
had been observed in Paris, approached in this respect
to the Caucasian type, while the Tasmanians were
unexpectedly found to differ markedly from the other
black races in their scapular index.

In 1884, in a paper published in the Journal of the
Anthropological Society, Sir William recorded the
results of a large series of observations in regard to
the value of the size of the teeth as a race-character,
and was enabled, by means of a " dental index," to
divide the human species into a "Microdont," or
small-toothed group, a <c Mesodont " group and a
u Macrodont," or large-toothed group. In the first
group were included Europeans and other members
of the Caucasian stock, as well as Polynesians, and

164 LIFE OF FLOWER

many of the non-Aryan tribes of Central and
Southern India. In the second group came Chinese,
American Indians, Malays, and African Negroes ;
while in the third were included Melanesians,
Andamanese, Australians, and Tasmanians. If it be
borne in mind, as explained in the original paper, that
the teeth in African Negroes are actually larger than
in Europeans, although the " index " is reduced by
the great length of the base of the cranium (which
forms a factor in the index) in the former, the results
accord remarkably well with the under-mentioned
classification of the human species, which is indeed
partly based on the character in question.

"The Classification of the Varieties of the Human
Species " is the title of Flower's Presidential Address
to the Anniversary Meeting of the Anthropological
Institute, held in January 1885. In this scheme the
species was divided into three main stocks, or branches,
namely (i) the Negroid, or black ; (2) the Mongolian,
or yellow ; and (3) the Caucasian, or white. In the
first were included the African or typical Negroes, the
Hottentots and Bushmen, the Oceanic Negroes or
Melanesians, and the Negritos of the Andaman
Islands and other parts of Asia ; the Australians being
provisionally classed near the Melanesians. The second,
or Mongolian, branch was taken to include the
Eskimo, the typical Mongols of Central and Northern
Asia, the brown Polynesians or " Kanakas," and the
so-called American Indians, from the great lakes of
Canada to Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego. In the
third, or Caucasian, group were classed, of course, all
the remaining representatives of the human race,

LIFE OF FLOWER 165

including Europeans, the ancient Egyptians, and the
modern fellahin of the Nile delta, the natives of India,
the Ainu of Japan, and the Veddas of Ceylon.

In the main, this classification has been very gener-
ally accepted by anthropologists, although exception
has naturally been taken to some of the items. The
Australians, for instance, which differ markedly from
all the undoubted representatives of the Negroid
branch, form a case in point. Sir William was inclined
to think that these people do not form a distinct race
at all, but that they may be derived from a Melanesian
stock, modified by a strong infusion of some other race,
probably a low Caucasian type, more or less nearly
allied to the Veddas of Ceylon or some of the
Dravidian races of Southern or Central India. It is
added, however, that the Australians may possibly be
mainly sprung from a very primitive type, from which
the frizzly-haired Negroes branched off; frizzly hair
being probably a specialised feature not the common
attribute of the ancestral man ; confirmation of this
last supposition being afforded, it may be mentioned,
by the straight hair of the man-like apes.

Neither of the above theories is, however, alto-
gether satisfactory ; and it has been suggested by some
writers that the Australians, like the Veddas of Ceylon,
and the Indian Dravidians, are a very primitive
Caucasian type. Against this, is their scapular index,
their large teeth, and projecting jaws (which must
not be confused with protrusion of the lips alone).
Until, however, we know which of the three great
human branches was the one which traces its origin
back to ape-like creatures, it is almost impossible to

1 66 LIFE OF FLOWER

arrive at any satisfactory conclusion on this puzzling
question.

Another point in regard to which Flower's classifica-
tion has met with adverse criticism is the position
assigned to the brown Polynesians, which some
authorities believe to be mainly of Caucasian origin,
and accordingly term Indonesians.

Taken as a whole there can, however, be no ques-
tion but that the classification proposed by Sir William
was an extremely valuable contribution to systematic
anthropology.

The last two really important contributions to
anthropology made by Sir William were both published
in 1888 : the one, under the title of "The Pygmy
Races of Man," in the Proceedings of the Royal Institu-
tion (forming an address) ; and the other, entitled
" Description of Two Skeletons of Akkas,a Pygmy Race
from Central Africa," in the Journal of the Anthropo-
logical Institute. The second of these two communica-
tions dealt with two imperfect skeletons — :male and
female — of the pigmy African race known as Akkas,
obtained by the late Dr. Emin Pasha at Monbotto
during his last expedition. The female specimen,
which is the least imperfect of the two, and is said to
be that of a very old individual, is now mounted in the
Natural History Museum. In general character, the
skulls were found to come very close to the Negro type -3
it is true they are somewhat less elongated, but the
relative breadth proved to be much less than the
describer was led to expect from what had been pre-
viously written with regard to the craniology of this
tribe. The whole skeleton fully confirmed earlier

LIFE OF FLOWER 167

statements that the Akkas are the most diminutive
living people. They are quite distinct from the
African Bushmen (characterised, among other features,
by their tawny skins), and also from the Asiatic
Negritos, as represented by the Andamanese ; and they
accordingly seem rightly referred to a distinct branch
of the Negro stock, for which the name Negrillo has
been suggested.

In the first of the two papers cited above, Sir William
gave a general account of all the races of mankind
which can be included under the title of " pigmies,"
such as the Bushmen, Negrillos, and Negritos. As
regards the second group he wrote as follows : —

" The fact now seems clearly demonstrated that
at various spots across the great African Continent,
within a few degrees north and south of the Equator,
extending from the Atlantic coast to near the shores
of the Albert Nyanza (30° E. long.) and perhaps . . .
even further to the east, south of the Galla land, are
still surviving, in scattered districts, communities of
these small Negroes, all much resembling each other in
size, appearance, and habits, and dwelling mostly apart
from their taller neighbours, by whom they are every-
where surrounded. ... In many parts, especially at
the west, they are obviously holding their own with
difficulty, ff not actually disappearing, and there is much
about their condition of civilisation, and the situations
in which they are found, to induce us to look upon
them, as in the case of the Bushmen in the south and
the Negritos in the east, as the remains of a population
which occupied the land before the incoming of the
present dominant races. If the account of the

1 68 LIFE OF FLOWER

Nasamenians, related by Herodotus, be accepted as
historical, the river they came to, c flowing from west
to east,' must have been the Niger, and the northward
range of the dwarfish people far more extensive twenty-
three centuries ago than it is at the present time."

Sir William's only remaining anthropological paper
of any importance appears to be one on skulls of the
aboriginal natives of Jamaica, published in the Journal
of the Anthropological Institute for 1890.

It should not, however, be forgotten that, as more
fully narrated in an earlier chapter, one of the last acts
of Sir William's scientific career was to organise
the arrangement of the anthropological series in the
Natural History Branch of the British Museum — an
undertaking of which he was not spared to witness the
completion (so far as anything of this nature can be
said to be anywhere near " complete ").

If he had left nothing but his anthropological labours
to bear testimony to his zeal for science and his capacity
for organisation, Sir William Flower would have
deserved well of posterity. And it should be recorded
to his credit that the majority of naturalists, at all
events in this country, are employing, with some
minor modifications, not only his anthropological
classification, but that of mammals in general. It is
true that both these schemes were based on the labours
and ideas of his predecessors, but it was reserved for
him to so modify and improve them as to lead to the
almost universal acceptation with which they have been
received.

CHAPTER VIII

MUSEUM AND MISCELLANEOUS WORK

MUCH of the substance of this chapter has been
already alluded to in the earlier portions of the present
volume ; but it has been found convenient to give Sir
William's views on the objects and arrangement of
museums somewhat more fully in this place, while
reference is also made to various items of miscellaneous
work which do not fall within the scope of either of the
three previous chapters.

Of Flower's hereditary interest in the crusade
against tight bearing-reins, and his official connection
with the Anti-Bearing-Rein Association, sufficient
mention has been already made in the first chapter. It
will likewise be unnecessary in this place to do more than
mention his Diagrams of the Nerves of the Human Body
published in 1 86 1, to his " Supplement to the Catalogue
of the Pathological Series in the Museum of the Royal
College of Surgeons," issued in 1863, and to certain
articles on surgical subjects contributed by him at
an early portion of his career. All these, coupled with
the practical experience he gained during his Crimean
service, indicate, however, that had Sir William decided
to devote his energies and talents to surgery as a
permanent occupation, there is little doubt he would
have risen to high eminence in that profession.

The little work entitled Fashion in Deformity , is based
169

1 70 LIFE OF FLOWER

on a Friday Evening lecture at the Royal Institution,
delivered on yth May 1 880, and first published in the
Proceedings of the Institution for the same year. In its
separate, and more fully illustrated form, it was issued in
1 88 1. This is certainly one of Flower's most original
efforts, touching upon ground much of which has
received but little notice from either earlier or later
writers. The subjects discussed include the origin of
fashion ; mutilations of domesticated animals by man
for the sake of fashion ; fashion in hair and in finger-
nails ; tattooing ; fashion in noses, ears, lips, teeth,
and head, the latter being illustrated by the curious
custom prevalent among certain widely sundered races
of forcibly compressing the cranium in infancy by
means of bandages, so as to permanently modify and
alter its contour to a greater or less degree. Analogous
to this compression of the head is the crippling by
bandages of the feet of Chinese female infants, which
is described in some detail. But the author is of opinion
that European nations are scarcely less to blame in the
matter of distorting the feet for the sake of fashion ;
and pointed-toed and high-heeled boots and shoes come
in for his most severe condemnation. Neither, as
mentioned in the first chapter, was he less scathing
in his diatribes against the corset and tight-lacing.
That the last-mentioned article of female attire is
likewise charged in certain instances with being the
inducing cause of cancer was however probably un-
known to him.

That these strictures against the prevalent fashions of
our own days had little or no practical result (certainly
none in the case of the female sex), may be taken for

LIFE OF FLOWER 171

granted. The work has, however, a very considerable
amount of interest as illustrating a number of instances
of the manner in which uncivilised nations modify and
mutilate various parts of the body for the sake of what
they are pleased to regard as ornament, or fashion ;
and is therefore a valuable contribution to ethnology.

The address delivered by Flower at the meeting
of the Church Congress, held at Reading in 1883,
on the bearing of recent scientific advances on the
Christian faith, has likewise been alluded to in the first
chapter. It will therefore suffice here to quote a
portion of the concluding paragraph, which demonstrates
that nothing among modern discoveries had served to
shake in the very slightest degree the author's profound
belief in all the essential truths of the faith of his
forefathers.

" Science," he observes, " has thrown some light, little
enough at present, but ever increasing, and for which
we should all be thankful, upon the processes or methods
by which the world in which we dwell has been
brought into its present condition. The wonder and
mystery of Creation remain as wonderful and mysterious
as before. Of the origin of the whole, science tells us
nothing. It is still as impossible as ever to conceive
that such a world, governed by laws, the operations of
which have led to such mighty results, and are attended
by such future promise, could have originated without
the intervention of some power external to itself. If
the succession of small miracles, supposed to regulate
the operations of nature, no longer satisfies us, have we
not substituted for them one of immeasurable greatness
and grandeur ? "

172 LIFE OF FLOWER

Although he does not say so in so many words, there
is little doubt (reading between the lines) that Flower
regarded the evolution of animated Nature as part of
a preordained divine plan, and that he had little, if any,
faith in such theories as " survival of the fittest," as the
true explanation of Nature's riddle.

This address, like most of the other addresses and
papers discussed in this chapter, is reprinted in Essays
on Museums.

We pass now to the concluding portion of our
subject, namely Flower's influence and example in
modifying and advancing previous conceptions as to
the functions and objects of museums, and the mode and
manner in which their contents should be arranged and
distributed : on the one hand for the purpose of instruct-
ing and interesting the public, and on the other for
advancing the study of biological science. In many
respects this was perhaps the most important item
in Flower's life-work ; and he may be said to have
created the art of museum development and display.

In regard to the value and importance of his labours
in this respect, no better testimony can be adduced than
that given by such a distinguished adept in this kind of
work as Professor E. Ray Lankester, the present
Director of the Natural History Departments of the
British Museum.

" The arrangement and exhibition of specimens
designed and carried out by Flower in both instances,"
writes Professor Lankester, after alluding to his pre-
decessor's labours first at the Royal College of Sur-
geons, and afterwards at the British Museum, " was
so definite an improvement on previous methods, that

LIFE OF FLOWER 173

he deserves to be considered as an originator and inventor
in museum work. His methods have not only met
with general approval, and their application with
admiration, but they have been largely adapted and
copied by other Curators and Directors of public
museums both at home and abroad."

Much has been said with regard to Flower's views on
museum arrangement in the chapter devoted to his
official connection with the British Museum. It may,
however, be permissible to repeat that in his epoch-
making address on museum organisation, delivered
before the British Association in 1889, he insisted,
in the case of large central public museums, on the
absolute necessity of separating the study from the
exhibition series ; and likewise on the limited number
and careful selection of the specimens which should
be shown to the public in the latter, and the prime
importance of carefully-written and simply-worded
descriptive labels for each group of specimens, if not,
indeed, for each individual specimen. His idea was, in
fact, that the specimens should illustrate the labels
rather than the labels the specimens. A limited
number, rather than an extensive series, of exhibited
specimens, and ample room for each, were also features
in his progress of reform. Not less emphatic was
Sir William on the importance of combining the
extinct with the living forms in our museums ; but
this, as stated elsewhere, he was unable to carry out in
the national collection.

It was, however, by no means only in our great
national museums that Flower took so much interest,
and advocated (and to a great extent succeeded in

i74 LIFE OF FLOWER

carrying out) such sweeping and beneficial changes.
He was equally convinced of the supreme importance
and value, as educating media, of school and county
museums, if organised and kept up on proper and
rational lines j and he did all that lay in his power to
promote the establishment, extension, or development
of institutions of this nature.

At the request of the Head-Master, in 1889, Flower
furnished some written advice as to the best method of
arranging a museum at Eton College, and these were
published as an article in Nature for that year, under
the title of " School Museums." The writer observed
that the subjects best adapted for such a museum are
zoology, botany, mineralogy, and geology ; adding
that u everything in the museum should have some
distinct object, coming under one or other of the
above subjects, and under one or other of the series
defined below, and everything else should be rigorously
excluded The Curator's business will be quite as much
to keep useless specimens out of the museum as to
acquire those that are useful." It was further urged that
the " Index Museum," in the Natural History Museum,
furnished the best guide to the lines on which a school
museum should be furnished and arranged, but that the
exhibits should be restricted to a simpler and less
detailed series.

Under the title of " Natural History as a Vocation,"
Sir William published in Chamber? Journal for April
1897 an article dealing with biology as a profession, and
also discussing the best means of encouraging and
directing the "collecting instinct," which is so marked
a feature in some boys. This article is reprinted

LIFE OF FLOWER 175

in Essays on Museums, under the title of " Boys'
Museums." It serves to show that Flower considered
the aforesaid " collecting instinct " worthy, under cer-
tain restrictions, of every encouragement.

Since the appearance of Flower's article pointing out
their value and importance, natural history museums
have been established at many, if not most, of our public
schools besides Eton. Those at Marlborough, Rugby,
and Haileybury may be specially noticed as being, to a
great extent, arranged on the lines advocated by Sir
William.

As regards county and other local museums, Flower
in the article under the latter title, published in Essays
on Museums, advocated that these, in addition to
natural history specimens, should likewise illustrate the
archaeology, and indeed the general history of the
district ; obsolete implements, such as flint-and-steel and
candle-snuffers, if of local origin, legitimately finding a
place within its walls. The natural history of the
locality, needless to say, should be well illustrated, and so
arranged and named that any visitor can easily identify
every creature and plant he may have met with during
his rambles in the district.

The subject of administration is next discussed, when
after fully admitting the value of volunteer assistance,
the writer lays it down as imperative that a com-
petent paid Curator must be engaged if the museum
is to be really useful and to properly fulfil its
purpose.

Now that so many institutions of this nature are
under the control of the County Councils, and their
expenses defrayed out of the rates, the following passage

1 76 LIFE OF FLOWER

has a most important bearing on the management of
local museums : —

"The scope of the museum," observes Sir William,
" should be strictly defined and limited ; there must be
nothing like the general miscellaneous collection of
4 curiosities/ thrown indiscriminately together, which
constituted the old-fashioned country museum. I think
we are all agreed as to the local character predominating.
One section should contain antiquities and illustrations
of local manners and customs ; another section, local
natural history, zoology, botany, and geology. The
boundaries of the county will afford a good limit
for both. Everything not occurring in a state of nature
within that boundary should be rigorously excluded.
In addition to this, it may be desirable to have a small
general collection designed and arranged specially for
elementary instruction in science."

These words of warning deserve, in the present
writer's opinion, more attention than they have yet
received at the hands of those responsible for the ad-
ministration of not a few local museums.

It may be added that Flower was of opinion that
ordinary local museums should not undertake original
research work, which should be reserved for the larger
establishments in our chief cities and the metropolis.
With the means at their disposal — often insufficient
even for the proper functions — local museums should
have quite enough to do in illustrating local products.

Not that Sir William Flower was of opinion that, in
our larger cities, museums of a totally different nature
from the local museum on the one hand and from the
general museum on the other, may not have a justifi-

LIFE OF FLOWER 177

able locus standi. This is amply demonstrated by his
remarks (republished in Essays on Museums] on the
occasion of the opening of the Booth Museum at
Brighton, in November 1890, which contains one of
the finest and best mounted collection of British birds
in the kingdom.

M

APPENDIX A

SOME BIOGRAPHICAL AND OBITUARY NOTICES
OF SIR WILLIAM FLOWER.

The Biograph and Review, vol. vi. No. 31 ( 1 88 1 ) .
Medical News, i6th December 1881.
Contemporary Medical Men. London, 1887.
The Times, 3rd July 1899.
The Spectator, July 1899.

Nature, I3th July 1889. Professor E. R. Lankester.
Natural Science, August 1899. R. Lydekker.
Geological Magazine, August 1899. Dr. H. Woodward.
Scottish Review, April 1900. Professor M'Intosh.
"Year-book" of the Royal Society, 1901. W. C. M.
" Sir William Henry Flower, K.C.B. ; A Personal
Memoir." By C. J. Cornish. London, 1904.

APPENDIX B

LIST OF THE MORE IMPORTANT SCIENTIFIC
PUBLICATIONS OF SIR WILLIAM FLOWER.

A. BOOKS AND SEPARATE PAMPHLETS.

1 . " Diagrams of the Nerves of the Human Body, Exhibit-
ing their Origin, Divisions, and Connections/' London,
1861.

2. " A Supplement to the Catalogue of the Pathological
Series in the Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons."
London, 1863.

3. "Introductory Lectures to the Course of Comparative
Anatomy, delivered at the Royal College of Surgeons of
England, 1870." London, 1870.

179

i8o APPENDIX

4. " An Introduction to the Osteology of the Mammalia/'
being the substance of the course of lectures delivered at
the Royal College of Surgeons of England in 1870.
London, 1870. Second edition, 1876. Third edition
(revised with the assistance of Hans Gadow), 1885.

5. " Catalogue of the Specimens illustrating the Osteology
and Dentition of Vertebrated Animals, Recent and Extinct,
contained in the Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons
of England." London. Part I. Man (1879); Part II.
Mammalia (1884), written in conjunction with Dr. J. G.
Garson.

6. " Fashion in Deformity, as Illustrated in the Customs
of Barbarous and Civilised Races." (Nature series).
London, 1881. Also published in the Proceedings of the
Royal Institution for 1880.

7. " Recent Advances in Natural Science, in their Re-
lation to the Christian Faith." A paper read before the
Church Congress, 1885. London, 1885.

8. " Recent Memoirs on the Cetacea," by Eschricht,
Reinhardt, and Liljeborg. A Translation. London (Ray
Society), 1866.

9. " List of the Specimens of Cetacea in the Zoological
Department of the British Museum." London, 1885.

10. "An Introduction to the Study of Mammals Living
and Extinct " (written in collaboration with R. Lydekker).
London, 1891.

ii.u The Horse : a Study in Natural History." London,
1891.

12. " Essays on Museums and Other Subjects connected
with Natural History." London, 1898.

B. ZOOLOGICAL AND ANATOMICAL MEMOIRS, ARTICLES, AND
NOTES PUBLISHED IN SCIENTIFIC SERIALS, ETC.

a. In the " Philosophical Transactions" of the Royal
Society of London.

13. "Observations on the Posterior Lobes of the Cere-
brum of the Quadrumana, with the Description of the

APPENDIX 181

Brain of a Galago," vol. clii. pp. 185-201 (1862). Ab-
stract in Proc. Roy. Soc., vol. xi. pp. 376-381 (1860).

14. "On the Commissures of the Cerebral Hemispheres
of the Marsupialia and Monotremata, as compared with
those of the Placental Mammals," vol. civ. pp. 633-651
(1865). Abstract in Proc. Roy. Soc., vol. xiv. pp. 71-74
(1865.)

15.** On the Development and Succession of the Teeth in
the Marsupialia/' vol. clvii. pp. 631-642 (1867). Abstract
in Proc. Roy. Soc., vol. xv. pp. 464-468 (1867), and in
Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., vol. xx. pp. 129-133 (1867.)

1 6. " On a Newly-discovered Extinct Mammal from Pata-
gonia (Homalodontotherium cunninghami) ," vol. clxiv. pp. 173-
182 (1874). Abstract in Proc. Roy. Soc.. vol. xxi. p. 383

(1873).

17. " Seals and Cetaceans from Kerguelen Island (Transit
of Venus Expeditions, 1874 and 1875)," vo^ clxviii.
pp. 95-100(1876).

b. In the " Proceedings " of the Royal Society of London.

1 8. Reply to Professor Owen's paper : " On Zoological
Names of Characteristic Parts and Homological Interpreta-
tions and Beginnings, especially in reference to Connecting
Fibres of the Brain," vol. xiv. pp. 134-139 (1865).

c. In the " Transactions " of the Zoological Society of London.

19. " On the Brain of the Jtvan Loris (Stenops javanicus,
Illig.)," vol. v. pp. 103-111 (1866).

20. " Description of the Skeleton of Inia geoffroyensis, and
of the Skull of Pontoporia blainvillei" vol. vi. pp. 87-116
(1869).

21. " On the Osteology of the Sperm-Whale or Cachalot
(Physeter macrocephalus}" vol. vi. pp. 309-372 (1869).

22. "Description of the Skeleton of the Chinese White
Dolphin (Delphinus sinewis)" vol. vii. pp. 151-160 (1872).

23. "On Risso's Dolphin (Grampus griseus)," vol. viii.
pp. 1-2 1 (1873).

24. " On the Recent Ziphioid Whales, with a Description

1 82 APPENDIX

of the Skeleton of Berardius arnuxi" vol. viii. pp. 203-234

25. "A Further Contribution to the Knowledge of the
Existing Ziphioid Whales ; Genus Mesoplodon" vol. x. pp.
415-437 (1878).

d. In the " Proceedings " of the Zoological Society of London.

26. ** Notes on the Dissection of a Species of Galago,"
1852, pp. 73-75.

27. "On the Structure of the Gizzard of the Nicobar
Pigeon and Granivorous Birds," 1860, pp. 330-334.

28. "Notes on the Anatomy of Pithecia monachus, Geoffr.,"
1862, pp. 326-333.

29. "On the Optic Lobes of the Brain of the Echidna"
1864, pp. 18-20.

30. " On a Lesser Fin-Whale (Balcenoptera rostrata, Fabr.)
recently stranded on the Norfolk Coast," 1864, pp.
252-258.

31. " On the Brain of the Red Howling Monkey
(Mycetes seniculus, Linn.)," 1864, pp. 335-338.

32. "Notes on the Skeletons of Whales in the Principal
Museums of Holland and Belgium, with Descriptions of
Two Species, apparently new to Science (Sibbaldius schlegeli
and Physalus latirostris)" 1864, pp. 384-420.

33. " On a New Species of Grampus (Orca meridionalii),
from Tasmania," 1864, pp. 420-426.

34. "Note on Pseudorca meridionalis" 1865, pp. 470-471.

35. "On Physalus sibbaldii, Gray," 1865, pp. 472-474.

36. " Observations upon a Fin-Whale (Physalus anti-
quorum, Gray) recently stranded in Pevensey Bay/' 1865,
pp. 699-705.

37. "On the Gular Pouch of the Great Bustard (Otis
tarda, Linn.)," 1865, pp. 747-748.

38. " Note on the Visceral Anatomy of Hyomoschus aquati-
cus" 1867, pp. 954-960.

39. " On the Probable Identity of the Fin-Whales de-
scribed as Balanoptera Carolina, Malm., and Physalus sibbaldii,
Gray," 1868, pp. 187-189.

APPENDIX 183

40. " On the Development and Succession of the Teeth
in the Armadillos," 1868, pp. 378-380.

41. "On the Value of the Characters of the Base of
the Cranium in the Classification of the Order Carnivora,
and on the Systematic Position of Bassaris and Other Dis-
puted Forms," 1869, pp. 4-37.

42. "Note on a Substance Ejected from the Stomach of
a Horn-bill/' 1869, p. 150.

43. " On the Anatomy of the Proteles cristatus, Sparmann,"

1869, pp. 474-496.

44. " Additional Note on a Specimen of the Common Fin-
Whale (Physalus antiquorum, Gray, Balanoptera musculus,
Auct.) Stranded in Langston Harbour, November 1869,"
l87°> PP. 330 and 331.

45. " On the Anatomy of JElurus fulgens, Fr. Cuv.,"

1870, pp. 752-769.

46. "On the Skeleton of the Australian Cassowary,"

1871, pp. 32-35.

47. "On the Occurrence of the Ringed or Marbled Seal
(Phoca hispida) on the Coast of Norfolk, with Remarks on
the Synonymy of the Species," 1861, pp. 506-512.

48. " Remarks on a Rare Australian Whale of the Genus
Ziphius" 1871, p. 631.

49. " Note on the Anatomy of the Two-Spotted Para-
doxure (Nandinia blnotata)" 1872, pp. 683 and 684.

50. " On the Structure and Affinities of the Musk-deer,
(Moschus moschiferus, Linn.)/' 1875, pp. 159-190.

51. "Description of the Skull of a Species of Xiphodon,
Cuvier," 1876, pp. 3-7.

52. "On some Cranial and Dental Characters of the
Existing Species of Rhinoceros," 1876, pp. 443-457.

53. ** Remarks upon Ziphius novce-zealandta and Mesopl-
odon floweri" 1876, pp. 477 and 478.

54. " On the Skull of a Rhinoceros (R. lasiotis, Scl.) from
India," 1878, pp. 634-636.

55. " On the Common Dolphin (Delphinus delphis, Linn.) "
1879, pp. 382-384.

56. " Remarks upon a Drawing of Delphinus tursio"
1879, p. 386.

i84 APPENDIX

57. " Remarks upon the Skull of a Female Otaria (Otaria
gillespii)," 1879, p. 551.

58. " Remarks upon the Skull of a Beluga, or White Whale
(Delphinapterus leucas)" 1879, pp. 667-669.

59. " On the Cascum of the Red Wolf (Cants jubatus,
Desm.)," 1879, PP' 766 and 767.

60. "On the Bush-Dog (Icticyon venaticus, Lund)," 1880,
pp. 70-76.

61. '< On the Elephant-Seal (Macrorhinus /eoninus, Linn.),"
1881, pp. 145-162.

62. "Notes on the Habits of the Manatee," 1881,

PP- 45S-456-

63. "On the Mutual Affinities of the Animals composing
the Order Edentata," 1882, pp. 358-367.

64. " On the Cranium of a New Species of Hyperoodon,
from the Australian Seas," 1882, pp. 392-396.

65. "On the Skull of a Young Chimpanzee," 1882,
PP- 634-636.

66. "On the Whales of the Genus Hyperoodon* 1882,
pp. 722-734.

67. " On the Arrangement of the Orders and Families ot
existing Mammalia," 1883, pp. 178-186.

68. "On the Characters and Divisions of the Family
Dflpbinida" 1883, pp. 466-513.

69. " On a Specimen of Rudolphi's Rorqual (BaUnoptera
borealis, Lesson) lately taken on the Essex Coast," 1883,

PP- S^-S1?-

70. " Remarks on the Burmese Elephant lately deposited
in the Society's Gardens," 1884, P- 44-

71. "Remarks upon Four Skulls of the Common Bottle-
nose Whale (Hyperoodon restrains), showing the Develop-
ment, with Age, of the Maxillary Crests," 1884, p. 206.

72. "Exhibition of a Mass of pure Spermaceti, obtained
from the 'head-matter' of Hyperoodon" 1884, p. 206.

73. " Note on theiDentition of a young Capybara (Hydro-
chorus capybara)" 1884, pp. 252 and 253.

74. " Note on the Names of Two Genera of Delphimdce"
1884, p. 417.

75. " Remarks upon a Specimen of Rudolphi's Rorqual

APPENDIX 185

(Balanoptera borealis) taken in the Thames, 1887," p.

564-

76. "On the Pygmy Hippopotamus of Liberia (Hippo-
potamus liberiensis, Morton), and its Claims to Distinct Generic

Rank," 1887, pp. 612-614.

77. " Remarks upon a Specimen of a Japanese Cock, with
Elongated Upper Tail-coverts," 1888, p. 248.

78. " Remarks upon the Skin of the Face of a Male
African Rhinoceros with a Third Horn," 1889, p. 448.

79. " Remarks upon a Photograph of the Nest of a Horn-
bill (Tocus melanoleucus), in which the Female was shown
* walled in,' " 1890, p. 401.

80. " Remarks on the Rules of Zoological Nomenclature,"
1896, pp. 319-320.

e. In the "Natural History Review"

8 1. " On the Brain of the Siamang (Hylobates syndactylus,
Raffles)," 1863, pp. 279-287.

82. "Note on the Number of Cervical Vertebrae in the
Sirenia," 1864, pp. 259-264.

f. In the " Journal of Anatomy and Physiology."

83. "On the Homologies and Notation of the Teeth of
the Mammalia," vol. iii. pp. 262-278 (1869) ; Abstract in
Rep. Brit. Assoc., vol. xxxviii. (Trans, of Sections), pp. 262-
288 (1868).

84. " On the Composition of the Carpus of the Dog,"
series 2, vol. vi. pp. 62-64 (I^>7Q)-

85. "On the Correspondence between the Parts Compos-
ing the Shoulder and the Pelvic Girdle of the Mammalia,"
vol. vi. pp. 239-249 (1870).

86. " Note on the Carpus of the Sloths," vol. vii. pp.
255 and 256 (1873).

g. In the " Quarterly Journal" of the Geological Society oj
London.

87. "On the Affinities and Probable Habits of the
Extinct Australian Marsupial, Thylacoleo carnifex, Owen,"
vol. xxiv. pp. 307-319 (1868).

1 86 APPENDIX

88. " Description of the Skull of a Species of Halitherium
(H. canhami) from the Red Crag of Suffolk," vol. xxx. pp.

1-7 (1874).

89. " Note on the Occurrence of Remains of Hycenarctos
in the Red Crag of Suffolk," vol. xxxiii. pp. 534-536
(1877).

h. In the " Proceedings " of the Royal Institution.

90. " On Palseontological Evidence of Gradual Modifica-
tion of Animal Forms," vol. vii. pp. 94-104 (1873).

91. "The Extinct Animals of North America," vol. viii.
pp. 103-105 (1876), and Popular Science Review, vol. xv.
pp. 267-298 (1876).

92. " On Whales, Past and Present, and their Probable
Origin," vol. x. pp. 360-376 (1883).

i. In the "Report" of the British Association for the
Advancement of Science.

93. " On the Connexion of the Hyoid Arch with the
Cranium," vol. xl. (Trans, of Sections), pp. 136 and 137
(1870).

94. "A Century's Progress in Zoological Knowledge,"
vol. xlviii., pp. 549-558 (1878), and Nature, vol. xviii. pp.
419-423 (1878).

j. In the Annals and Magazine of Natural History.

95. "On a Sub- Fossil Whale (Eschrichtius robustus) Dis-
covered in Cornwall," ser. 4, vol. ix. pp. 440-442 (1872).

96. "Extinct Lemurina," ser. 4, vol. xvii. pp. 323-328
(1876).

k. In the "Journal" of the Royal Colonial Institute.

97. "Whales and Whale Fisheries " : a Lecture delivered
at the Royal Colonial Institute on 8th January 1885 (1885).

/. In Nature.

98. " On the Arrangement and Nomenclature of the
Lobes of the Liver in Mammalia," vol. vi. pp. 346-365

APPENDIX 187

(1872) ; and also Rep. Brit. Assoc., vol. xlii. (Trans, of
Sections), pp. 150 and 151 (1872).

99. "On the Ziphioid Whales," vol. v. pp. 103-106
(1872).

100. "Museum Specimens for Teaching Purposes," vol.
xv. pp. 144-146, 184-186, and 204-206 (1876).

m. In the " Transactions " of the Geological Society of
Cornwall.

10 1. "On the Bones of a Whale found at Petuan,"
1872,8 pp.

n. In the " Bulletin " of the Brussels Academy.

102. <{ Sur le basin et le fe'mur d'une Balenoptere," vol.
xxi. pp. 131 and 132 (1866).

o. In the " Medical Times " and " Gazette"

103. " Comparative Anatomy," a Lecture, 1870.

104. " Lectures on the Comparative Anatomy of the
Organs of Digestion of the Mammalia," delivered at the
Royal College of Surgeons of England, in February and
March 1872.

p. In the " Transactions " of the Odontological Society of
London.

105. " On the First or Milk Dentition of the Mammalia,"
vol. iii. pp. 211-232 (1871).

1 06. "Note on the Specimens of Abnormal Dentition in
the Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons," vol. xii.
pp. 32-47 (1880).

q. In the " British Medical Journal:'

107. " Dentition of the Mammalia," 1871.

1 08. " History of Extinct Mammals, and their Relation
to Existing Forms," 1874.

1 88 APPENDIX

109. "The Anatomy of the Cetacea and Edentata," 1881
and 1882.

r. In the " Encyclopedia Britannic a" qth Ed.

no. "The Horse," vol. xii. pp. 172-181 (1881).
in. "Mammalia" (Insect'ivora, Chiroptera and Rodentia,
by G. E. Dobson), vol. xv. pp. 347-446 (1883).

112. "Whale," vol. xxiv. pp. 523-529 (1888).
And other articles.

s. In the " Report1' of the Council of the Zoological Society.

113. "On the Progress of Zoology" : Address to the
General Meeting held at the Society's Gardens, i6th June
1887. Appendix, 1887, pp. 37-67.

/. In the <•'' Trans actions" of the Middlesex Natural
History Society.

114. " Horns and Antlers," 1887, pp. i-io.

C. ANTHROPOLOGICAL PAPERS.
a. In the '•''Journal" oj the Anthropological Institute.

115. "Illustrations of the Modes of Preserving the Dead
in Darnley Island and in South Australia," vol. viii. pp.
389-394 (1879).

1 1 6. " On the Osteology and Affinities of the Natives ot
the Andaman Islands," vol. ix. pp. 108-135 (1879).

117. " On the Cranial Characters of the Natives of the
Fiji Islands," vol. x. pp. 153-173 (1880).

1 18. "On a Collection of Monumental Heads and
Artificially deformed Crania from the Island of Mallicollo,
in the New Hebrides," vol. xi. pp. 75-81 (1881).

119. "On the Aims and Prospects of the Study of
Anthropology," vol. xiii. pp. 488-501 (1884).

1 20. "Additional Observations on the Osteology of the
Natives of the Andaman Islands," vol. xiv. pp. 115-120
(1884).

APPENDIX 189

121. "On the size of the Teeth as a Character of Race,"
vol. xiv. pp. 183-186 (1884).

122. "On the Classification of the Varieties of the
Human Species," vol. xiv. pp. 378-395 (1885).

I22A. "On a Nicobarese Skull," vol. xvi. pp. 147-149
(1886).

123. <{ Description of two Skeletons of Akkas, a Pygmy
Race from Central Africa," vol. xviii. pp. 3-19 (1888).

124. " On two Skulls from a Cave in Jamaica," vol. xx.
pp. 110-112 (1890).

b. In the « Report " of the British Association.

125. " Methods and Results of Measurements of the
Capacity of Human Crania," 1878, pp. 581, 582 ; and
Nature, vol. xviii. pp. 480, 481 (1878).

1 26. '< The Study and Progress of Anthropology" (Address
to Anthrop. Dept. of Zoological Section), 1881, pp.
682-689 ; and Nature, vol. xxiv. pp. 436-439 (1881).

c. In " Nature"

127. "The Comparative Anatomy of Man" (Abstract
of Lectures), vol. xx. pp. 222-225, 244-246 (1879), and
267-269 ; vol. xxii. pp. 59-61, 78-80, 97-100 (1880).

d. In the "British Medical Journal"

1 28. " The Anatomical Characters of the Races of Man,"
1879 and 1880.

e. In the *' Journal of Anatomy and Physiology"

129. "On the Scapular Index as a Race-Character in
Man," vol. xiv., pp. 13-17 (1880), written in co-operation
with Dr. J. G. Garson.

f. In the Manchester Science Lectures for the People.

130. "The Aborigines of Tasmania, an Extinct Race."
A Lecture delivered in Hulme Town Hall, Manchester,
3Oth November 1878, ser. x. pp. 41-53.

g. In " Report" of Glasgow Science lectures Association.

131. " The Races of Man," 53 pp. Glasgow (1878).

1 90 APPENDIX

h. In the " Proceedings " of the Royal Institution.

132. "The Native Races of the Pacific Ocean," vol. viii.
pp. 602-652 (1878).

133. "The Pygmy Races of Men," vol. xii. pp. 266-
283 (1888).

D. ON MUSEUMS AND MUSEUM ARRANGEMENTS.

134. "The Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons of
England." Presidential Address to the Anatomical Section
of the International Medical Congress, held in London,
4th August 1 88 1. [Reprinted in Essays on Museums, as are
the other papers and addresses quoted under this heading/]

135. " Museum Organisation." Presidential Address to
the British Association for the Advancement of Science, at
the Newcastle-on-Tyne Meeting, nth September 1889.
Rep. Brit. Assoc., 1889.

136. "School Museums : Suggestions for the Formation
and Arrangement of Natural History in connection with a
Public School." Nature, 26th December 1889.

137. "The Booth Museum." Address at the Opening
of the Booth Museum, Brighton, 3rd November 1890.
Zoologist, December 1890.

138. " Local Museums." From a letter in support of the
establishment of a County Museum for Buckinghamshire
(24th November 1891), and an Address at the Opening of
the Perth Museum (29th November 1895).

139. "Modern Museums." Presidential Address to the
Museums' Association, at the Meeting held in London, 3rd
July 1893. Museums' Association Journal, 1893.

140. "Natural History as a Vocation (Boys' Museums)."
Chambers' s Edinburgh Journal, April 1897.

E. BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES BY SIR WILLIAM FLOWER
Mostly Republished in " Essays on Museums.''

141. " Biographical Notice of Professor Rolleston." Proc.
Roy. Soc., 1882.

APPENDIX 191

142. Obituary Notice of George Busk. Journ. Anthrop.
Inst., vol. xvi., p. 403 (1886).

143. " Biographical Notice of Sir Richard Owen." Proc.
Roy. Soc., 1894.

144. " Reminiscences of Professor Huxley." The North
American Review, September 1895.

145. " Eulogium on Charles Darwin." Centenary Meet-
ing of the Linnean Society, 24th May 1888.

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