JOHN RALFS. 

 ("With Portrait .) 



Only those who have come into close contact with the man or 

 have carefully studied his works, can realize the greatness of the 

 intellect of the veteran botanist who died at Penzance in July last. 

 Had not his health and eyesight failed, there is little doubt that 

 John Balfs would have ranked as one of the greatest botanists of 

 the century. His clearness of perception, his conciseness and exacti- 

 tude of expression, added to his indomitable energy, his enthusiasm, 

 and his wonderful memory, made him the very ideal of a naturalist. 



He was born on Sept, 13th, 1807, at Millbrook, near South- 

 ampton. He came of an old Hampshire family, being the second 

 son of Samuel Balfs, of Mudeford, near Christchurch. His father 

 died in 1808, and the young family was brought up by the mother, 

 who disposed of the property at Mudeford, and removed to South- 

 ampton. Young Ralfs's first school appears to have been that of 

 Dr. Buller in this town, he afterwards went to Mr, Jennings's at 

 Bishop's Waltham, and subsequently to the Bev. J. Jenvey's at 

 Bomsey. To the last-named gentleman he became much attached, 

 and to him he dedicated his first botanical book. As a lad Ralfs 

 was studious and painstaking, and showed an early inclination to 

 scientific pursuits, which first developed in the direction of chemistry. 

 At about the age of eighteen he was articled to his uncle, a surgeon 

 at Brentford, with whom he remained two years and a half, after 

 which he studied at Winchester Hospital for two years. In 1832 

 he passed the examination qualifying him as a surgeon, and in this 

 examination we find he distinguished himself by his knowledge of 

 botany. He went into partnership with a surgeon in Shoreditch, 

 and Mr. Marquand tells us that he practised at Towcester. During 

 the few years that he was able to follow his profession he was very 

 successful. While on a visit to Torquay he became acquainted with 

 Miss Laura Gecilia Newman, daughter of Mr. Henry Newman, of 

 London, and in 1835 was married to that lady. They had one son, 

 John Henry, who was born in 1836. The marriage did not prove 

 a happy one, for within two years Mrs. Balfs (with her infant son) 

 went to live with her parents, who were then residing in France ; 

 she afterwards travelled in Italy, but returned to France, where she 

 died in 1818. 



In 1837 Mr. Balfs's health became so bad — his lungs being 

 found to be seriously affected — that he was obliged to relinquish his 

 practice and to reside in one of the health-resorts of the south- 

 western coast. After visiting Torquay, he settled down, in Nov. 

 1837, at Penzance, which continued to be his home during the rest 

 of his life, In 1838 he contributed the botanical portion of a guide 

 to Ilfracombe by Banfield. In 1839 he published his first book, 

 ' The British Phamogamous Plants and Ferns ; arranged on the 

 Linnsean System, and analysed after the method of Lamarck'; this 

 consisted of a dichotomous key to the genera and species, with an 

 analysis of the natural orders. It did not pretend to compete with 



Journal of Botany. — Vol. 28. [October, 1890.] o 



