Fbbruaky 23, 1883.] 



SCIENCE. 



53 



FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 1883. 



THE BALFOUR MEMORIAL. 

 The death of Francis Maitland Balfour last 

 July was felt by many as a heavier blow to 

 biological science than the loss of Darwin. 

 The immortal master had nearl}' finished his 

 work : Balfour's had but commenced. There 

 was therefore added to the emotion of per- 

 sonal bereavement the perhaps less poignant 

 tout deeper grief due to the fact that science 

 had sustained, through Balfour's early death, 

 an almost irreparable loss. His work had al- 

 ready yielded such rich fruits that we hardlj' 

 knew how to put a limit to what we might 

 expect from him in the future. His genius, 

 patience, knowledge, technical skill, and critical 

 judgment were so apparent in his published 

 works, that when he died aged but thirt3--one 

 years, he was alreadj^ recognized throughout 

 the civilized world as an eminent authority on 

 morphological questions. All young EngUsh 

 biologists looked upon him as the undisputed 

 future leader of morphological science in their 

 countr}'. The feelings towards him 'of older 

 men have been expressed bj- Professor Hux- 

 ley : " It is no exaggeration to saj-, that to 

 my eyes, and to those, I take it, of manj^ of 

 my age, Professor Balfour seemed to be like 

 that Lycidas of whom Milton spoke : — 

 ' Dead ere his prime, 

 Young Lycidas, and hath not left liis peer.' " 



Of the beaut}' of Balfour's character we can- 

 not here speak : its remembrance will ever re- 

 main a cherished and inspiring possession of 

 every one who knew him. 



It was impossible that the death of such a 

 man should not be followed by some effort 

 on the part of his contemporaries and fellow- 

 workers in science to express the esteem in 

 which thej- held him and his work. We desire 

 to call attention to the admirable form which 

 the Balfour Memorial is to take ; namely*, the 

 establishment of a permanent fund, the income 

 of which is to be used exclusively for the pro- 

 motion of biological research. 



The Balfour Memorial took definite shape 

 at a meeting held in the University of Cam- 

 No. 3. — 1883. 



bridge last October, attended and addressed 

 not only hj the leading biologists of Great 

 Britain, but by distinguished theologians, 

 classical scholars, chemists, and mathemati- 

 cians. This co-operation of leaders in so 

 many lines of thought was a most striking 

 testimony to the wide-spread regard felt for 

 Balfour's personalitj', and to the value at- 

 tached to his influence hj manj' who were not 

 able to appreciate the technical importance of 

 his morphological discoveries. 



At the meeting it was decided to found a 

 Balfour Memorial, and that this should take 

 the form of an endowment fund " for the pro- 

 motion of biological research, especiallj- in mor- 

 phology : " also, that the income yielded by 

 the ' Balfour Fund ' should be employed, (1) 

 in the payment of £200 a j-ear to a j'oung 

 biologist for his support while engaged in 

 morphological research ; and (2) in occasional 

 grants to the Balfour student, or other biolo- 

 gists, for the promotion of research, — as, for 

 example, by providing the means of visiting 

 parts of the world especially suited for the 

 prosecution of investigations on hand, or by 

 supplying expensive apparatus or rare speci- 

 mens. It was also decided unanimousl}', that, 

 though the fund should be in some waj' closely 

 connected with Balfour's own university, 3'et 

 others than members of the Universitj- of Cam- 

 bridge should be eligible as Balfour students. 



We can conceive of no more suitable form 

 for the Balfour Memorial than that selected. 

 As the work of him whom it commemorates 

 was cosmopolitan, so are to be the benefits of 

 the fund. Hy perpetuating Balfour's name 

 through all future time in connection with 

 biological research, it appeals to the sympathy 

 of all who knew him or his work. Hy afford- 

 ing support for a year or two to j'oung men 

 qualified to advance knowledge, it will, through 

 generations to come, save for science many, 

 who, without such help while winning their 

 spurs, would have been forced into a profes- 

 sional or business career. Thus not only will 

 science be advanced, but Balfour's work passed 

 on from hand to hand ; so that the increase of 

 knowledge which we had hoped for from him 



