8 INTRODUCTION. 



that he should never be able to make satisfactory microscopic 

 sections ; as to his being able to make drawings of his dissec- 

 tions and microscopical preparations, he looked upon that at 

 first as wholly impossible. I need hardly say that in time he 

 acquired great skill in the details of microscopical technique, 

 and that his drawings, if wanting in so-called artistic finish, were 

 always singularly true and instructive. While thus struggling 

 with the details which I could teach him, he soon began to 

 manifest qualities which no teacher could give him. I remember 

 calling his attention to Dursy's paper on the Primitive Streak, 

 and suggesting that he should work the matter over, since if 

 such a structure really existed, it must, most probably, have 

 great morphological significance. I am free to confess that I 

 myself rather doubted the matter, and a weaker student might 

 have been influenced by my preconceptions. Balfour, however, 

 thus early had the power of seeing what existed and of refusing 

 to see what did not exist. He was soon able to convince me 

 that Dursy's streak was a reality, and the complete working 

 out of its significance occupied his thoughts to the end of his 

 days. 



The results of these early studies were made known in three 

 papers which appeared in the Quarterly Journal of Microscopical 

 Science for July 1873, and will be found in the beginning of this 

 volume. The summer and autumn of that year were spent partly 

 in a visit to Finland, in company with his friend and old school- 

 fellow Mr Arthur Evans, and partly in formal preparation for the 

 approaching Tripos examination. Into this preparation Balfour 

 threw himself with characteristic energy, and fully justified my 

 having encouraged his spending so much of the preceding time 

 in original research, not only by the rapidity with which he 

 accumulated the stock of knowledge of various kinds necessary 

 for the examination but also by the manner in which he acquitted 

 himself at the trial itself. At that time the position of the 

 candidates in the Natural Sciences Tripos was determined by 

 the total number of marks, and Balfour was placed second, the 

 first place being gained by H. Newell Martin of Christ's College, 

 now Professor at Baltimore, U.S.A. In the examination, in 

 which I took part, Balfour did not write much, and he had 

 not yet learnt the art of putting his statements in the best 



