460 



CHIPS AND SLIPS. 



[1884, 



Professor Balfour. — How many 

 students in successive annual genera- 

 tions have taken their botanical nourish- 

 ment from Balfour's Manual or Class 

 Book it woultl be difficult to say, for 

 though it might be easy for the regis- 

 trar to give the numbers of those who 

 attended the Professor's classes, firet 

 in Glasgow, then in Edinburgh, it 

 would assui'edly be a difficult, if not 

 imjDossible, task to enumerate those 

 who indu'ectly claim Balfour as their 

 teacher. Writing nearly ten years 

 ago, we said of Balfour that he w;is a 

 iwe-eminently successful teacher — one 

 whose zeal inspires, whose energy 

 maintains, whose lucid style facihtates, 

 the progi'ess of his students. This was 

 written not long before failing health 

 induced the Professor to retire from 

 the more active duties of his office. 

 In our Edinburgh Supplement, which 

 was published in September, 1875, we 

 ■gave a full account of the Botanic 

 Garden then under the directorship of 

 Professor Balfour, and the curatorship 

 of Mr. MacNab. In that account we 

 were natm\aily led to allude to the 

 work done by the Professor — work 

 which it was evident even then was in 

 excess of his strength. John Hutton 

 Balfour, for long the most prominent 

 member of the medical faculty in the 

 University of Edinburgh, was born in 

 1808, and in 1845 succeeded Dr. 

 (afterwards Sir William) Hooker in 

 the chair of Botany in Glasgow. He 

 was the friend and associate of Wight, 

 of Falconer, of Dickson, of Greville, 

 and a host of memorable men, most of 

 whom have passed away before him, 

 but who were knit together by the 



common bond of sympathy in] the 

 shape of a love for plants. Their excur- 

 sions mid moor and mountain were 

 fruitful, as a glance into many a her- 

 barium testifies, and they formed the 

 precursor of that series of herborising 

 expeditions undertaken year by year 

 by the Professor and his students with 

 such zeal and with such advantage to 

 the pupils. In 1845 the Chair of 

 Botany in Edinburgh fell vacant, and 

 Dr. Balfour was appointed to the 

 office and to the Eegius-keepership of 

 the Eoyal Botanic Garden. The Pro- 

 fessorship of Medicine was more 

 nominal than real, so far as teaching 

 was concerned ; but, as Dean of the 

 Medical Faculty, Balfour was brought 

 into connection with his brother pro- 

 fessors and generation after generation 

 of students. His powers of work and 

 organisation and his sympathetic 

 manner contributed largely to the 

 advance that has been made in the 

 progress of the University. Ably 

 seconded by Mr. MacNab and Mr. 

 Sadler, both of whom predeceased 

 him, Dr. Balfour bi^ought the Edin- 

 burgh garden to a high standard of 

 perfection, and especially of practical 

 utility. New palm-houses, museums, 

 rockeries, all bear testimony to his 

 zeal. The Edinburgh Botanic Society 

 also profited largely by his example 

 and constant aid. Some few years 

 since, from failing health, Dr. Balfour 

 resigned the active duties of the pro- 

 fessorship, being nominated Emeritus 

 Professor. After some time his health 

 improved, so that to some extent his 

 death recently was unexpected. — 

 Gardeners' Chronicle. 



■WILLIAM RIDEB AND SON, PBINTBBS, BABTHOLOMEW CLOSE, LONDON. 



