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office of academical instructor on the one side, and on the other side, 

 established name and fame in the technical department of botany. 

 Undoubtedly a very high compliment was paid to Dr. Balfour in giv- 

 ing him the preference over Dr. Walker Arnott, who had acquired for 

 himself a forward position among systematic botanists, and also over 

 Dr. J. D. Hooker, whose paternal name there were strong grounds 

 for believing he would worthily maintain. The compliment of such 

 a preference, we repeat, was a high one, by the confidence thus shown 

 in the sufficiency of Dr. Balfour's qualifications ; and from all we 

 have since heard of Professor Balfour, as botanical instructor, the 

 compliment was not more high than it was just and merited. We 

 can fortunately express such an opinion now without in any degree 

 disparaging the scientific merits of the unsuccessful competitors, whose 

 claims to botanical distinction must rest on quite different grounds, 

 and on grounds which are not contested with them by the same 

 competitor. 



From his present position in 'an university of such well-established 

 reputation for scientific lectures, and from the circumstances under 

 which he was appointed to the chairs both of Glasgow and Edin- 

 burgh, a 'Manual of Botany' from the pen of Professor Balfour will 

 naturally be looked at with some curiosity and no little interest. The 

 impression left on our mind from so much of the work as we have 

 been yet enabled to examine, is certainly a favourable one. W"e do 

 not pretend to have read through upwards of six hundred closely- 

 printed pages of an elementary publication ; but we have turned over 

 many of its pages, and have read portions selected here and there 

 through the volume, with attention bestowed and with gratification 

 received. We judge it to be a very complete and comprehensive di- 

 gest of the subject ; one excellently adapted for the use of students 

 of medicine, for the assistance of whom, we may suppose, it was pri- 

 marily designed. 



Dr. Balfour unites much medical experience, as well as chemical 

 and physiological knowledge, with a lively zeal and earnestness in 

 the promotion of botanical knowledge. Through this union of the 

 needful qualifications in its author, the ' Manual of Botany ' seems 

 likely to prove just the kind of publication most suitable for students 

 of medicine, by a judicious selection of the facts and principles, illus- 

 trations and explanations, which are best calculated to interest and 

 instruct that class of students, without the foolish overloading of their 

 memories with matters comparatively useless and irrelevant to their 

 own professional objects, sometimes rather unfairly forced on stu- 



