INTRODUCTION. 5 



of " Some Points in the Geology of the East Lothian Coast," 

 and which was in itself a work of considerable promise. Geology 

 however was beginning to find a rival in natural history. Much 

 of his holiday time was now spent in dredging for marine animals 

 along the coast off Dunbar. Each specimen thus obtained was 

 carefully determined and exact records were kept of the various 

 ' finds,' so that the dredgings (which were zealously continued 

 after he had left Harrow and gone to Cambridge) really con- 

 stituted a serious study of the fauna of this part of the coast. 

 They also enabled him to make a not inconsiderable collection 

 of shells, in the arrangement of which he was assisted by 

 his sister Evelyn, of Crustacea and of other animals. 



Both to the masters and to his schoolfellows he became known 

 as a boy of great force of character. Among the latter his scrupu- 

 lous and unwavering conscientiousness made him less popular 

 perhaps than might have been expected from his bright kindly 

 manner and his unselfish warmheartedness. In the incidents of 

 school life a too strict conscience is often an inconvenience, and 

 the sternness and energy with which Balfour denounced acts of 

 meanness and falsehood were thought by some to be unnecessarily 

 great. He thus came to be feared rather than liked by many, 

 and comparatively few grew to be sufficiently intimate with him 

 to appreciate the warmth of his affections and the charm of his 

 playful moments. 



At the Easter of 1870 he passed the entrance examination 

 at Trinity College, Cambridge, and entered into residence in the 

 following October. His college tutor was Mr J. Prior, but he 

 was from the first assisted and guided in his studies by his 

 friend, Mr Marlborough Pryor, an old Harrow boy, who in the 

 same October had been, on account of his distinction in Natural 

 Science, elected a Fellow of the College, in accordance with 

 certain new regulations which then came into action for the first 

 time, and which provided that every three years one of the 

 College Fellowships should be awarded for excellence in some 

 branch or branches of Natural Science, as distinguished from 

 mathematics, pure or mixed. During the whole of that year 

 and part of the next Mr Marlborough Pryor remained in resi- 

 dence, and his influence in wisely directing Balfour's studies had 

 a most beneficial effect on the latter's progress. 



