FRANCIS MAITLAND BALFOUR, the sixth child and third 

 son of James Maitland Balfour of Whittinghame, East Lothian, 

 and Lady Blanche, daughter of the second Marquis of Salisbury, 

 was born at Edinburgh, during a temporary stay of his parents 

 there, on the loth November, 1851. He can hardly be said to 

 have known his father, who died of consumption in 1856, at the 

 early age of thirty-six, and who spent the greater part of the last 

 two years of his life at Madeira, separated from the younger chil- 

 dren who remained at home. He fancied at one time that he had 

 inherited his father's constitution ; and this idea seems to have 

 spurred him on to achieve early what he had to do. But, 

 though there was a period soon after he went to College, during 

 which he seemed delicate, and the state of his health caused 

 considerable anxiety to his friends, he eventually became fairly 

 robust, and that in spite of labours which greatly taxed his 

 strength. 



The early years of his life were spent chiefly at Whitting- 

 hame under the loving care of his mother. She made it a point 

 to attempt to cultivate in all her children some taste for natural 

 science, especially for natural history, and in this she was 

 greatly helped by the boys' tutor, Mr J. W. Kitto. They were 

 encouraged to make collections and to form a museum, and 

 the fossils found in the gravel spread in front of the house 

 served as the nucleus of a geological series. Frank soon be- 

 came greatly interested in these things, and indeed they may be 

 said to have formed the beginnings of his scientific career. At 

 all events there was thus awakened in him a love for geology, 

 which science continued to be his favorite study all through his 

 B. i 



